This Friday, a New York judge ordered The Trump Organization to pay $1.6 million for tax fraud. Last month, the company was convicted of 17 tax offenses, including conspiracy and falsification of business records.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchán ruled that the organization must pay the maximum allowed by law in such cases, to be split between the organization's subsidiaries: $810,000 for The Trump Corporation and $800,000 for The Trump Payroll.
According to U.S. Attorney Alvin Bragg, top The Trump Organization executives dodged income taxes on various leases, purchases and sales of high-end vehicles, and even private school tuition. As these are mainly personal expenditures, the $1.6 million fine is merely symbolic in the context of the company's total revenue.
Donald Trump was not involved
Donald Trump, who was not tried in the case, claimed that he had no knowledge of tax evasion by the executives. On other occasions, the former president stated that these types of cases are politically motivated "witch hunt[s]." One example of which was the publication of his personal taxes on Friday, Dec. 30.
Of the executives, only one was tried individually, Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty of up to $1.7 million in tax evasion. He was sentenced Tuesday to five months in jail.
Susan Necheles, defense attorney for The Trump Organization, announced that she will appeal the sentence. She further asserted that the Trump family had no knowledge of the executives' actions and that Weisselberg betrayed the company's trust.
