Another problem: the former head of the Trump Organization pleads guilty to financial fraud

A novelty complicates the already obscure judicial landscape of former President Donald Trump: his key adviser and chief financial officer of his company pleaded guilty this Thursday that he has committed more than a dozen serious crimes, such as fraud and tax evasion, and must testify in the trial against the company of the former head of the White House. In return, he received a reduction in his sentence.

is approx Allen Weisselberg, 75, who has worked with Trump since 1973 and knows many of its secrets. He was indicted last year alongside the Trump Organization for hiding some financial rewards as part of a multi-year plan to avoid paying taxes and broke his low profile by pleading guilty.

The case is part of the frenzied legal storm with twenty or so lawsuits of various kinds still surrounding Trump and his close allies, with local, state and federal authorities reviewing thousands of evidence, including suspects with his company, rape complaints for handling classified government documents which he took without permission to his home in Florida.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud and tax evasion for $ 1.76 million in undeclared revenue between 2005 and 2021. The financial expert is accused of taking advantage of certain perks, such as luxury apartments and cars for him and his wife, expensive colleges for his grandchildren, and receiving cash for their holidays, hiding everything from treasure.

“Fatty fish”

“Allen Weisselberg admitted in court today that he used his position in the Trump Organization to defraud taxpayers and enrich himself personally,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in the statement.

Somehow, the prosecutor has hinted that the deal with this employee it was just a step to get to the “big fish”, the former president’s company. “The settlement reached with the court directly links the Trump Organization to a wide range of criminal activities and requires Weisselberg to provide valuable testimony in the upcoming trial against the company,” he added.

In July 2021, the former Trump Organization executive pleaded not guilty, risking being sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. But now he’s got a much better deal because by pleading guilty to these crimes you will only spend five months in prison, five months of probation and pay a fine of two million dollars.

In return, he agreed to testify, if called, in a pending trial of the Trump Organization. who is accused of orchestrating a false financial system to “inflate” balances to obtain loans and then “deflate” them to pay less taxes.

what’s coming

The Weisselberg sentence depends on “testifying truthfully” in the trial of the Trump company, according to the district attorney’s office, although it will be seen later whether the adviser finally decides to indict his boss, something he has so far avoided.

Trump and his collaborators have attacked the case and claim that all the trials following the former president are formed part of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democratic Party with the complicity of justice.

The criminal trial against the Trump Organization, which includes golf clubs, hotels and other properties around the world, will open on October 24, just before the November legislative elections, where several Republican candidates backed by the first president are running. According to polls, Democrats could lose their meager majority in Congress.

The judicial tangle against Trump is abundant. Another investigation, this time civil but into the same suspicions of financial and tax fraud, is being conducted by the New York State Attorney General, Letitia James. For this Trump trial had to testify under oath last week and refused to answer.

But what has dominated all the news in recent days is the case of the raid on the Mar a Lago residence in Florida by the FBI, which seized a dozen boxes of confidential documents that Trump had withdrawn without the permission of the White House. and that refused to return in the face of persistent legal demands.

Meanwhile, the criminal trials linked to her role in the assault on the Capitol on 6 January 2021 and another for defamation, started by a saleswoman who reported that several years ago the tycoon raped her in a dressing room. that Trump accused of lying.

PB