..On January 13, the city of New York, and a judge came to a decision of a guilty verdict. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is charged on 17 accounts towards two of his owned businesses.
In a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump, and his eldest children, Donald Jr., and Eric, stood before the judge.
Moreover, last month The Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. were convicted of tax fraud and falsifying business records. Directly under New York law, most companies can be fined up to $1.6 million.
This lawsuit has Attorney General Letitia James accusing Trump of fraudulently overvaluing his net worth and his real estate company’s assets. This isn’t the first time James has sued Trump, his children, and the organization.
Last year, in September, James implicated that an alleged scheme to raise Trump’s assets is sought through banks, insurers, and lies. She describes this method as “staggering” fraud. James did seek out $250 million in damages.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court in Manhattan rejected her defense claim.
Justice Arthur Enforon, a part of the state Supreme Court, said she waited too long to sue, lacked enough supporting evidence of fraud, and justify the million of damages she had been seeking.
TRUMP COMAPANIES FACE PENALITY
During this trial, prosecutors included evidence that presented the engagement of executives working for Trump conspired to evade local, state, and federal taxes for over a decade.
In an NPR interview, IIya Marritz covers the trail and says one executive received cars, an apartment, and private school tuition, and all is off records. However, This did benefit the Trump business.
In other words, Trump did not have to raise executive wages for many years, and the business avoided payroll and Medicare taxes.
The executives are not ordered by the court to appear, rather it is who runs the businesses, which is the Trump family who indeed lawyered up.
Furthermore, the judge told the defense team that they have two weeks to pay the maximum, and they accepted.
What’s the next step?
Coming from the New York statute book, this was the maximum Trump can be fined. For each count comes a dollar amount that must be compensated.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg voices this business trial as an example to those who would dare to think of escaping their taxes.
He also noted, “$1.6 million may not be much of a deterrent I want to be very clear. We don’t think that is enough. Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic and egregious fraud.”
In essence, the former president along with his eldest children will be appealing the verdict.
As for New York Attorney General James, who is preparing for the civil case, she aims for a successful outcome. Her objective is to remove the Trumps from leadership roles in the company.
She intends to preclude the Trumps from buying or selling real estate or applying for loans for five years. She has also demanded a $250 million fine.
Trump reiterates he has done nothing wrong, but today’s sentencing tells otherwise. Even then he has never been charged with a crime and remains fraught.
Written by Abbi-Rae De La Rosa
Twitter – @justabbi_
