This week, a jury in New York convicted the Trump Organization, the former president’s company donald trump, of criminal charges for tax evasion and forgery of documents in a scheme intended to defraud authorities.
The decision directly affects two entities of the organization (Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp.) as well as two of its highest executives: Allen Weisselbergthe head of Finance, and the comptroller Jeffrey McConney.
Both will be sentenced on January 13 and the company will have to pay a maximum of US $1.6 million in fines. During the trial, prosecutors demonstrated that for more than 15 years the company “donated” luxury apartments, cars and even money for university tuition to top executives that were later not reported on their tax returns.
Much of the case was built on the testimony of Weisselbergone of the men closest to Trump who had already pleaded guilty last August of 15 charges and promised to cooperate with the authorities.
The former US president, it is worth clarifying, was not one of the defendants in this criminal proceeding. In fact, Weisselberg insisted that while his actions benefited the company financially, the ultimate motivation was his own enrichment. Despite them, prosecutors suggested at various points in the trial that Trump was aware of the company’s maneuvering to evade taxes.
“This is a case of greed and cheating. Both corporations set up a scheme to pay top executives compensation while hiding benefits from authorities to avoid paying taxes,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said after the decision was made public.
How does it affect Donald Trump?
When asked why Trump had not also been charged, Bragg clarified that this was only part of the investigation directed against the companies but that investigation would continue.
“This is just one chapter,” said the Prosecutor.
This is a case of greed and cheating. Both corporations set up a scheme to pay top executives compensation while hiding benefits from the authorities
On paper, the verdict is far from devastating for the former president. The possible sanction of $1.6 million dollars is laughable given his enormous fortune, which is estimated at billions. Companies will also be able to continue operating.
But under the surface there are currents that could affect both politically and financially. On the one hand, the jury’s decision and the court’s verdict in January will affect the ability of their companies to access the financial market, on which they depend to amortize their operations.
It is also an indelible stain against the name of the company on which the former president built his fortune and gave life to his political aspirations.
At the same time, says former prosecutor Elie Honig, it is a blow to her current presidential bid for the 2024 election, which she just announced. Initially, she gives new ammunition to her detractors.
“Add fraud to Trump’s great success list,” Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said shortly after. And you can already see the commercials and advertisements coming underlining the corruption of their companies.
While Trump claims that it’s all political persecution, and that resonates with his supporters, many of the big donors he needs to finance his campaign, they will think twice, Honig says.
Furthermore, prosecutors made it clear that their ultimate target could be Trump himself, ensuring that the issue will live on throughout the election campaign.
“Trump explicitly sanctioned this fraud. This whole narrative that he had no idea and that it was just corrupt employees at his service is completely false,” said Joshua Steinglass, another of the prosecutors in the case.
Likewise, the verdict seems to be only an appetizer of what could come against the former president in judicial terms. In September the New York Attorney General Letitia Jamesfiled a civil lawsuit against Trump himself, three of his children and Weisselberg in which he accuses them of manipulating the value of their properties to obtain tax benefits, and better terms on bank loans and insurance policies.
If found guilty, they could be forced to pay more than US$250 million in fines. But even more serious, the prosecution also seeks to veto the company from future business in the state of New York.
At the same time, Trump is being investigated for the alleged illegal removal of classified material when he left the White House and in another case in Georgia for his possible intervention to alter the results of the presidential elections in that state.
Likewise, there is another ongoing investigation that seeks to determine if he played an active role in the violent takeover of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters tried to block the legislative certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
All investigations that could also impact his aspirations to obtain the Republican Party’s nomination for the 2024 elections and his chances, if he succeeds, of returning to the White House.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
On Twitter @sergom68
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