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Closing arguments started Thursday within the tax fraud trial of the Trump Group, which is accused of a sweeping, 15-year scheme to compensate high executives of former President Donald Trump’s firm off the books.
The protection started by recapping testimony from the prosecution’s star witness within the criminal trial, former firm chief monetary officer Allen Weisselberg, and others.
Trump Group legal professionals laid out their case that Weisselberg dedicated his crimes to learn himself, saying prosecutors within the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace didn’t show past an affordable doubt that the ex-CFO did so on behalf of the corporate.
“We’re right here in the present day due to one motive and one motive solely, due to the greed of Allen Weisselberg,” protection lawyer Susan Necheles mentioned. She added that Weisselberg “wished a cope with the federal government as a result of he knew he did one thing fallacious and was afraid of a protracted jail sentence.”
However prosecutor Joshua Steinglass mentioned whether or not Weisselberg was motivated by greed “ought to by no means be in query.”
“It wasn’t that they didn’t know what they have been doing was unlawful,” he mentioned of the Trump Group. “It’s that they didn’t care.”
Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to evading taxes, agreed to testify in opposition to his former employer in change for a five-month jail sentence. Prosecutors say he obtained $1.76 million in “oblique worker compensation” by way of the scheme, together with a rent-free condo, costly automobiles, non-public college tuition for his grandchildren and new furnishings. Different executives obtained comparable perks and have been paid bonuses as impartial contractors, saving the corporate payroll taxes.
The ex-CFO testified that the Trumps had not been conscious of his schemes, however that Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, did not discipline him after they came upon.
Weisselberg mentioned he had “betrayed” the Trump household’s belief in him. Though Trump and his sons knew of the perks he obtained as a result of they’d signal the checks, they have been unaware of any fraud, he mentioned. And whereas the corporate profited from his scams by not having to pay payroll or Medicare taxes, Weisselberg mentioned it was his “personal private greed that led to this.”
Weisselberg testified that solely different particular person within the firm who knew concerning the tax fraud scheme was its controller, Jeffrey McConney, who was referred to as as the primary witness within the trial and obtained immunity for his testimony. McConney, nonetheless, testified Weisselberg had advised him Trump had been conscious of the tax scheme when he was working the corporate.
Necheles mentioned Weisselberg “micromanaged” McConney, exhibiting emails during which he requested Weisselberg for permission to wire cash or to chop a examine. She famous that McConney testified that he thought if he “began refusing or combating again, I’d lose my job.”
Necheles additionally recounted McConney’s testimony alleging that Matthew Calamari, the corporate’s chief working officer, was a beneficiary of the rip-off. “The tax scheme was executed to learn Weisselberg and Calamari in order that they may cheat on their private taxes. It was all about their private taxes,” she mentioned.
Necheles additionally raised the testimony of Donald Bender, a associate on the Trump Group’s former accounting agency, Mazars USA. Bender mentioned did he not recall seeing emails from firm executives about Weisselberg’s revenue reductions for company-paid extras and that Weisselberg didn’t inform him concerning the tax scheme. However Necheles alleged Bender had gotten too near Weisselberg and had didn’t alert the Trumps to the rip-off, and mentioned the accountant’s conduct was “so problematic” that “prosecutors determined to not name him as a witness.”
Though he was eliminated as CFO after he was indicted, Weisselberg testified that his duties have remained largely the identical and he’s nonetheless making the identical amount of cash — about $1 million a 12 months. The corporate has additionally paid for the legal professionals represented him within the case, he mentioned.
Attorneys for the corporate, which pleaded not responsible, argued that Weisselberg acted on his personal. Trump, who introduced his 2024 presidential bid final month, has not been charged within the case.
After legal professionals wrap up arguments, the 12-person jury is about to start deliberations Monday.
The Trump Group may incur fines as much as $1.6 million if convicted on all counts. A conviction may additionally hamper the corporate’s skill to acquire future financing, experts have mentioned.
The previous president has forged the costs as a political hit job.
“There has by no means been a ‘Fringe Advantages’ case corresponding to this introduced earlier than,” Trump mentioned in a publish on his Reality Social platform final month. “Did a very long time govt pay tax on the usage of an organization automotive, or an organization condo, or funds (not even taken by us as a tax deduction!) for the training of his grandchildren? For this, he will get handcuffs and jail?”
The corporate has turn out to be ensnared in different authorized issues as effectively. The New York lawyer common’s workplace can also be suing the corporate, Trump and his oldest kids final month, alleging that they had overstated the corporate’s monetary property by billions of {dollars}. The civil swimsuit, which Trump has additionally dismissed as a politically motivated “witch hunt,” seeks to impose about $250 million in penalties and to completely bar Trump and his three oldest kids from serving as officers of any New York-based firms.
Adam Reiss, Adam Reiss, Dareh Gregorian and Rebecca Shabad contributed.
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