Prosecutor turns focus on Donald Trump as company's tax fraud trial ends
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[December 03, 2022]
By Karen Freifeld and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump's namesake real estate company engaged
in tax fraud and the former U.S. president knew it was going on, a
prosecutor said in closing arguments in the Trump Organization's
criminal trial on Friday, countering defense assertions that Trump was
unaware of the scheme.
In his final day of closing arguments, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said
Trump authorized an array of perks and payments for top executives,
including apartment rent and Christmas bonuses, that cheated tax
authorities by being either unreported or misreported as non-employee
compensation.
"The whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is just
not real," Steinglass told the 12-person jury in a New York state court.
Trump, he said, was "very hands on when it came to compensating his top
people."
The Trump Organization has pleaded not guilty to charges it engaged in a
15-year tax fraud by covering executives' personal expenses, reducing
salaries to account for the expenses, and paying employees as though
they were independent contractors.
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Its lawyers have said the fraud was the work of a rogue employee,
longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, looking out for
himself.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August and testified, at times appearing
conflicted, for the prosecution.
"Their own witnesses...testified time and again that President Trump did
not know anything of Weisselberg's tax scheme," defense lawyer Susan
Necheles said in her closing argument on Thursday.
Trump was not personally charged.
Company lawyers objected when Steinglass showed jurors a Trump-initialed
memo said it showed the former president "explicitly sanctioning tax
fraud."
Justice Juan Merchan, who oversees the trial, sustained that objection,
meaning jurors must disregard the statement.
But he let Steinglass argue about what Trump knew, saying the defense
had opened the door by trying to distance Trump from the case.
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![](../images/120322PIX/news_g69.jpg)
Former U.S. President Donald Trump
speaks at a rally to support Republican candidates ahead of midterm
elections, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Gaelen
Morse/
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If convicted on tax fraud, falsifying business records and other
charges, Trump's company faces up to $1.6 million in fines.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Monday.
'FREE CARS FOR YOU'
Steinglass said tax fraud helped Trump's company keep salaries down,
shift tax deductions to Trump entities such as his Mar-a-Lago club,
reduce payroll taxes, and make executives happy and loyal, in part
by lowering their personal tax bills.
He highlighted Weisselberg's testimony that the company saved
hundreds of thousands of dollars by covering his expenses instead of
giving him a raise.
Steinglass said Trump approved luxury apartments for Weisselberg and
his son, and for chief operating officer Matthew Calamari and his
son. He said Trump also authorized car leases for both executives
and their wives.
"This is all part of the Trump executive compensation package,"
Steinglass said. "Free cars for you, free cars for your wife, free
apartments for you, free apartments for your kids."
Weisselberg is on paid leave from the company, and will serve five
months in jail under his plea agreement.
He testified that he did not scheme with anyone in Trump's family,
and was embarrassed about betraying their trust after nearly five
decades of employment.
He also said he still hopes to collect a $500,000 bonus in January.
Trump, a Republican, has called the charges politically motivated.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a Democrat, as is his
predecessor Cyrus Vance, who brought the charges last year.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by
Alistair Bell)
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