Trump Org ‘cheated’ on taxes for 15 years, prosecutors say at NYC trial
The Trump Organization cheated tax authorities for 15 years by bankrolling big perks for top executives — including apartments and luxury cars, Manhattan prosecutors said as the real estate company’s criminal trial got underway Monday.
Former President Donald Trump’s firm used the perks to pay its executives — without reporting those benefits — as part of an alleged scheme to avoid paying taxes between at least 2005 and 2021, Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger said in her opening statements in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“This case is about greed and cheating, cheating on taxes,” Hoffinger told jurors.
“The scheme was conducted, directed and authorized at the highest levels of the accounting department at the company.”
The ex-president’s namesake company benefited from the alleged plot by keeping its “trusted” chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, happy and avoiding some taxes, the prosecutor said.
“Everybody wins here,” Hoffinger said. “Of course, everybody but the tax authorities. The problem with doing it this way is that it’s not legal.”
The case is expected to largely hinge on the prosecution’s star witness, Weisselberg, who agreed to testify after pleading guilty in August to fraudulently accepting $1.7 million “off the books” from the company.
The Trump Org is accused of helping Weisselberg and other senior execs skirt income taxes by not accurately reporting their full compensation to the government.
In Weisselberg’s case, he copped to accepting free rent on an Upper West Side apartment, luxury cars and tuition payments for his grandchildren.
Hoffinger told jurors on Monday that the evidence showed many “off the books” payments to Weisselberg were paid through the company, but the private school tuition for the then-CFO’s grandkids “was paid by Donald Trump personally.”
Trump is not charged in the case or accused of any wrongdoing.
Trump had transferred ownership of his company to Weisselberg and his adult children — Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump — when he was elected president at the end of 2016.
Hoffinger said the evidence would also show that his election win in 2016 forced Trump’s companies to “finally clean up” their fraudulent tax practices.
“There was concern about extra scrutiny of these companies because of Donald Trump’s election,” Hoffinger told jurors.
Lawyers for the Trump Org — which has pleaded not guilty – argued in their opening statements that the case only concerned Weisselberg’s personal tax returns.
“It started with Allen Weisselberg and it ended with Allen Weisselberg,” said Susan Necheles, a lawyer for Trump Corp – one of the two Trump Org subsidiaries, along with Trump Payroll Corp, charged in the case.
“Donald Trump didn’t know that Allen Weisselberg was cheating on Allen Weisselberg’s personal tax returns,” Necheles added. “The evidence will be crystal clear on that.”
Necheles told jurors she’d be referring to Trump as “President Trump” throughout the trial – and urged the jury to keep one thing in mind: “You must not consider this case to be a referendum on President Trump or his policies.”
Twelve jurors and six alternatives were selected last week after the judge and attorneys pushed to keep the jury box free of anyone with unshakably strong feelings about the 45th president.
Meanwhile, Michael van der Veen, the lawyer representing Trump Payroll Corp, echoed concerns about the former CFO, insisting: “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.”
“Greed made him cheat in his taxes,” van der Veen said. “And betray a trust built over nearly 50 years.”
Prosecutors later called Trump Org senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney as the first witness in the case. McConney has been accused of aiding Weisselberg by misreporting the CFO’s income to tax authorities and was granted immunity to testify.
On the stand Monday, McConney walked the court through financial records — including payroll forms and ledger entries that allegedly detailed how the company paid for Weisselberg’s car leases.
McConney, who was Weisselberg’s subordinate from the time he started at Trump’s company more than 30 years ago, also described how he and the CFO became friends over their decades working together.
“We had lunch every day,” he testified, adding they also attended their sons’ respective bar mitzvahs and funerals together.
McConney’s testimony will continue Tuesday and is expected to last several days.
Prosecutors have indicated they plan to call 15 witnesses, including Weisselberg and other Trump Org officials.
If convicted, the Trump Org — which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world — could face up to $1.6 million in fines and may face difficulty in securing new loans and deals.
The trial is expected to last over a month.
It is the only case to arise from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s three-year probe into Trump’s business empire finances.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has also been investigating the Trump Org.’s finances as part of a parallel civil investigation.
