Tag: Trump organization

Political Spending At Trump Properties Plunges Sharply

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The number of federal political committees that have spent money in the first half of 2021 at Trump Organization properties has dropped dramatically from the same period two years ago, Federal Election Commission filings show. Those continuing to spend: a smaller circle of loyal supporters of former President Donald Trump and candidates jockeying for his favor in contested Republican primaries.

During the first six months of 2021, 27 federal committees have reported spending $348,000 at Trump Organization properties, with the Republican National Committee accounting for more than half the total. That’s a steep decline from the 177 committees that did so during the 2019-2020 election cycle or the 78 committees that spent more than $1.6 million at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump International Hotel in Washington and other company sites in the first half of 2019, filings show.

Of course, that spending came in the run-up to a presidential election in which Trump was the incumbent. The biggest spenders in 2019 were the RNC and Trump’s own political committees raising money to support his campaign. Continue reading,

Prosecutors say spreadsheets from Trump Organization offer a road map for its indictment. Where the investigation goes now is the question.

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In prosecutors’ telling, the Trump Organization provided a road map for its own indictment.

In documents filed in the New York Supreme Court last week, prosecutors claimed that the company had spent 15 years paying its chief financial officer “off the books,” giving him cars, an apartment, tuition payments and cash that were hidden from income tax authorities.

But at the same time, according to allegations included in the indictment, the Trump Organization also was keeping internal spreadsheets that tallied the payments that were being hidden. Continue reading.

Trump is already roadtesting his defense for a possible NY indictment — but there’s a big problem

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One section of former President Donald Trump’s rally speech on Saturday night in Florida stood out to many observers: his response to last week’s indictment of his company and its CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were hit with a 15-count indictment from the Manhattan DA, Cy Vance, alleging a scheme to defraud the government and avoid paying required taxes on more than a million dollars worth of non-salary compensation the CFO has received for over a decade.

Trump himself was not charged in the scheme, though many argue it’s hard to believe he wasn’t aware of this allegedly criminal conduct — and indeed, it’s hard to believe this kind of criminality wasn’t widespread under his leadership. But if Vance ever chooses to try and bring a case against the former president, Trump will likely try to claim he was unaware that these crimes were occurring, or that he was unaware that what was being done was illegal. On Saturday, he started roadtesting this type of defense — which, if true, would undermine the case that he had the criminal intent required to be found guilty of the crimes in question — for his fans: Continue reading.

Bush speechwriter reveals the key detail that is missing from Trump’s statements on company indictments

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Writing for The Atlantic on Thursday, David Frum, the former speechwriter to President George W. Bush, noted that Donald Trump doesn’t even appear to be trying to defend himself publicly or claim he is innocent.

Looking at speeches and statements pushed out by the former president, Frum noticed that all they do is attack other people, they never proclaim innocence. 

“An early indication that things may end badly for Trump is the statement released today from the Trump Organization,” he explained. Continue reading.

Prosecutors allege a 15-year tax fraud scheme as the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg are arraigned on multiple criminal charges

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NEW YORK — Prosecutors charged former president Donald Trump’s business with a 15-year “scheme to defraud” the government and charged its chief financial officer with grand larceny and tax fraud in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, describing what they said was a wide-ranging effort to hide income from tax authorities.

In charging papers, prosecutors alleged that the Trump Organization effectively kept two sets of books. In one — for internal use — it carefully tallied the value of benefits given to executives as part of their compensation: apartments, cars, furniture, tuition payments, even money for holiday gifts.

But in the documents that the Trump Organization sent to tax authorities, prosecutors said, those benefits were omitted. Prosecutors said the result was that the Trump Organization and its executives avoided taxes on their full compensation: CFO Allen Weisselberg, they said, avoided paying more than $900,000. Continue reading.

Trump Organization Is Charged With Running 15-Year Employee Tax Scheme

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The company was accused of helping its executives evade taxes on compensation by hiding luxury perks and bonuses.

The Trump Organization, the real estate business that catapulted Donald J. Trump to tabloid fame, television riches and ultimately the White House, was charged Thursday with running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with fringe benefits that were hidden from the authorities.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been conducting the investigation alongside the New York attorney general, also accused a top executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, of avoiding taxes on $1.7 million in perks that should have been reported as income. Mr. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump’s long-serving and trusted chief financial officer, faced grand larceny, tax fraud and other charges.

“To put it bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payments scheme,” Carey Dunne, general counsel for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., said during an arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Continue reading.

Trump exec Weisselberg pleads not guilty to fraud, conspiracy charges

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New York City prosecutors on Thursday charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with various fraud and conspiracy charges.

Weisselberg, who turned himself in earlier Thursday morning, pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges, which include tax fraud, conspiracy, grand larceny and falsifying business records. He and the Trump Organization have denied wrongdoing.

In an indictment that was unsealed Thursday afternoon, prosecutors alleged that Weisselberg helped orchestrate a scheme to compensate himself and “other Trump Organization executives” with unreported income. Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump faces legal and political peril

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Former President Trump’s attempts to remain politically powerful and position himself as a viable 2024 candidate could hit a big hurdle.

Prosecutors in New York look to be on the brink of leveling criminal charges against the Trump Organization, according to recent reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Much remains unclear — and it is still technically possible that no charges will be brought, even though Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. (D) empaneled a new grand jury in May. But if charges are leveled, they will deal a heavy blow to the former president regardless of whether he is himself accused. Continue reading.

Former Trump Organization executive agrees Trump probably deserves to go to jail after ‘what I’ve observed over 20 years’

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Speaking to CNN host Jim Acosta on Sunday, former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res agreed that former President Donald Trump probably deserves to go to jail, from her observation.

The two discussed the deepening seriousness of the Manhattan District Attorney’s case against the Trump Organization. 

“I hear them talk about going after the Trump Organization, but the Trump Organization is not General Motors,” Res explained. “It was just a kind of loose thing that we called ourselves. I think it was incorporated, but later, after I started there. I’m sure that everything, every operation that he has, is held in a holding company or an LLC. So I’m not exactly sure what entities or where they’re going with this. Now, as far as Trump was concerned, if they were to get evidence against Trump, it would be to the extent that really nothing major has ever happened, to my knowledge. And this is confirmed by other people that worked for him much later, that he didn’t know about, nothing major. So, he is in with both legs.” Continue reading.

Trump Organization Could Face Criminal Charges in D.A. Inquiry

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An indictment of the Trump Organization could mark the first criminal charges to emerge from an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into Donald J. Trump and his business dealings.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that it is considering criminal charges against his family business, the Trump Organization, in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded a top executive, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

The prosecutors had been building a case for months against the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, as part of an effort to pressure him to cooperate with a broader inquiry into Mr. Trump’s business dealings. But it was not previously known that the Trump Organization also might face charges.

If the case moves ahead, the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., could announce charges as soon as next week, the people said. Mr. Vance’s prosecutors have been conducting the investigation along with lawyers from the office of the New York State attorney general, Letitia James. Continue reading.