Donald Trump’s real estate company convicted for tax crimes

• The family real estate business of former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty of tax offences.
• After two days of deliberations by the jury in New York, The Trump Organization was found guilty on all counts on Tuesday.
• Although the former president’s name is synonymous with the company, neither Mr. Trump nor any of his family members were directly prosecuted.

After two days of deliberations by the jury in New York, The Trump Organization was found guilty on all counts on Tuesday.

Although the former president’s name is synonymous with the company, neither Mr. Trump nor any of his family members were directly prosecuted.

Mr. Trump, who promised to challenge the decision, expressed his “disappointment” and once more referred to the investigation as a “witch hunt.”

The business was found guilty of enriching its senior executives for more than ten years with rewards that weren’t reported on the books.

Prosecutors claimed that untaxed benefits included private school tuition and expensive cars, which compensated for lower salaries and decreased the amount of tax the company was obligated to pay.

The company is anticipated to pay a fine of about $1.6 million (£1.3 million), and it might also have trouble in the future getting loans and financing.

The trial has previously drawn criticism from Mr. Trump for being politically motivated. After Allen Weisselberg, his longtime former chief financial officer, entered a guilty plea in August and gave a false testimony against the company, he also attacked the man.

The former Republican leader questioned why the Trump Organization should be penalised for Mr. Weisselberg’s “personal conduct” and claimed that he had “committed tax fraud on his own tax filings” in his most recent statement criticising the conviction.

In a statement released by his administration, Mr. Trump said that “there was RELIANCE by us on a then highly respected and costly accounting company, and law firm, to conduct this task.”

He claimed that the case was “unprecedented” and that it was “a continuation of the Greatest Political Witch Hunt in the History of our Country,” adding that it was now “hard to be a Trump” in New York City.

During the six-week trial, the prosecution alleged that the Trump Organization, which manages hotels, golf courses, and other assets all over the world, has a “culture of fraud and deception.”

They said that it employed a technique that permitted some executives to “understate their salary” in order to pay taxes that “were much less than the amounts that should have been paid.”

In his closing remarks to the jury, the prosecution’s Joshua Steinglass said that the smorgasbord of incentives was created to keep the company’s top executives content and devoted.

The Trump Organization’s two businesses, Trump Corp and Trump Payroll Corp, were found guilty of all 17 counts of tax fraud and fabricating financial documents.

Tuesday’s verdict was applauded by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who described the case as being “about greed and cheating.”

He claimed that for 13 years, the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation got away with a programme that gave high-level executives enormous perks and pay while purposefully hiding the benefits from taxing authorities.

As part of a plea agreement he reached with the prosecution, Mr. Weisselberg, 75, testified against the corporation. As a result, he will serve no more than five months in jail.

He will serve his sentence at the notorious Rikers Island prison and be have to repay more than $1.7 million (£1.4 million) in hidden income.

The judge appointed January 13 as the day of sentencing following the verdict.

A separate legal action against Mr. Trump and his three eldest children might result in a business ban in the state.

Letitia James, the attorney general of New York and the prosecutor in charge of that civil lawsuit, hailed Tuesday’s decision as a “major victory” in a statement.

It demonstrates that we will hold people and organisations responsible when they break the law to enrich themselves, she said.

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