tax fraud
Trump’s real estate company has to pay millions in fines
Donald Trump’s real estate company has been fined around $1.6 million. photo
© Andrew Harnik/AP/dpa
Donald Trump was not personally accused, but his real estate company was. According to the former chief financial officer, the Treasury has been systematically deceived for years. The maximum possible penalty has now been imposed.
The real estate group of former US President Donald Trump has to pay a fine of around 1.6 million dollars (around 1.5 million euros) for tax fraud, among other things. That ordered a court in New York on Friday. In December, a jury had already found the branched company construct guilty on all 17 charges, now the judge ordered the maximum possible sentence.
Ex-President Trump was not personally accused. But it is the first criminal conviction of his group. Lawyers for the Trump Organization had already announced that they would appeal.
In addition to the real estate group, its long-time chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was also accused. He had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five months in prison earlier this week. Weisselberg had testified that he and other employees had systematically cheated the tax authorities for years. Monetary benefits such as luxury cars and expensive apartments were not taxed.
Ex-President Trump announced when he entered the White House in January 2017 that he would step down from the top of his group of companies, which consists of a large number of companies. He had passed this on to Weisselberg and his sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump.