Trump firm’s tax fraud trial promises ex-CFO as star witness
One of Donald Trump’s most loyal deputies will testify against the Trump Organisation, in a trial that threatens to reveal the inner workings of the real estate empire that set the former president on his path to the White House.
Allen Weisselberg, who was the company’s accounting chief for decades, will be called to the witness stand by New York prosecutors in the trial, which starts with jury selection on Monday in Manhattan.
Prosecutors claim the company routinely low-balled its tax exposure by paying senior executives with perks like company cars and rent-free apartments.
“The world is about to see just how the Trump Organisation ran its business,” said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at the University of Michigan Law School.
“This is a significant case. The criminal charges are against Trump’s corporation, which is a small private company, but Donald Trump is the Trump Organisation.”
Trump is not on trial in the case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and if the company is found guilty, it would have to pay back taxes and fines totaling about US$1.6 million (S$2.3 million).
A conviction of Trump Corp and Trump Payroll Corp, the two entities charged, wouldn’t put the parent company out of business. But it will be the first trial involving the firm since Trump left office.
It’s one of several legal proceedings that involve Trump. The list includes a probe into his treatment of allegedly classified records as well as potential election interference in Georgia and questions about his role in creating a slate of electors to overturn the 2020 results.
There is also a civil case by New York’s attorney general, who is seeking to bar him and three of his children from doing business in the state and who has referred her case to federal prosecutors.
Even if the DA’s case ultimately reaches Trump himself, it may only boost his political fortunes as he weighs another run in 2024. His supporters view the probes and prosecutions of him and his inner circle as proof of a conspiracy.
“A conviction in a criminal case is serious,” said Daniel Horwitz, a former prosecutor at the DA’s office who is now at the law firm McLaughlin & Stern.
“Is it definitive that a company convicted of a crime will be shunned by lenders and creditors? Not necessarily. Is it a good thing if the Trump Organisation is convicted of cheating the government of millions of dollars in taxes over the years? No, it’s not good.”
In any case, the trial will offer a rare view inside the company, whose holdings include marquee New York skyscrapers, Trump-branded golf courses and Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where federal agents this summer seized thousands of documents taken from the White House, some of which were marked classified.
“Some of Trump’s supporters could be unmoved by evidence of unlawful business practices,” she said, “But for people who care about the facts and the law, wrongdoing matters. It’s important to hold businesses accountable to the law.”