All of Trump’s businesses have claimed innocence.
Monday in New York City saw the opening statements in the criminal tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization.
Tax evasion allegations against the Trump Organization have been ongoing for the past three years. The company’s top executives allegedly collected millions of dollars in remuneration that was never made public.
No criminal charges or claims have been made against either former President Trump or his children.
In the context of this inquiry, two companies with ties to Trump have pled not guilty to tax offenses.
Following Trump’s victory as president in 2016, Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger testified that the Trump Organization “finally had to clean up” its “fraudulent tax practices.”
Hoffinger claims that this is when “much of the illicit conduct occurred.”
Accusations made by Hoffinger include “greed and dishonesty” on the part of Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, which he claims “paid their already highly compensated executives even more by helping them cheat on taxes.”
In her opening statement, Susan Necheles, trial attorney for the Trump Organization, said Donald Trump was unaware of Allen Weisselberg’s tax evasion.
After facing charges of tax evasion in August, Weisselberg pled guilty and received a sentence of one hundred days in prison. He was accused of cheating the government after receiving perks he did not declare as income.
A lawyer representing Trump Payroll Corporation, Mike van der Veen, has stated, “this action is about individual personal greed and the misuse of trust necessary to feed that desire,” using Weisselberg as an example.
Van der Even praised Weisselberg, saying, “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg,” and that he was “trusted by everyone” in his position at the Trump family business.
After describing Weisselberg as “like family to the Trump family,” he went on to state that Weisselberg had “done crimes” and “made tremendous mistakes” that had “damaged his family and the enterprises.”
Weisselberg is, however, taking a “leave of absence” from the business at the moment, as Van der Veen pointed out.
Weisselberg said that he and other Trump Organization employees, such as senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney, had accepted $1.7 million in ill-gotten gains.