Trump Organization and CFO plead not guilty to tax evasion
The Trump Organization, the company of the ex-president and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg pleaded Thursday not guilty to multiple charges of tax evasion, a blow to the affairs of the ex-Republican president who qualifies the whole file of "witch hunt".
Indicted the day before by a grand jury, Allen Weisselberg, 73, loyal to former President Donald Trump, arrived in court at around 2.15 p.m. (6.15 p.m. GMT), hands behind his back, handcuffed.
After pleading not guilty and surrendering his passport, he was released, awaiting a new hearing on September 20, to prepare for his trial.
According to one of the prosecutors, Carey Dunne, Donald Trump's company and this very low-key man had together, since 2005, set up a "vast and daring system of illegal payments".
According to the indictment made public after the hearing, Mr. Weisselberg and this unlisted company "systematically conducted themselves" in such a way as to undervalue the remuneration of the latter and other employees not mentioned, in order to to pay taxes "substantially lower" than the amounts actually due.
Mr. Weisselberg - who has worked for the Trumps since 1973 - is notably accused, between 2005 and 2021, of deliberately withholding some $ 1.7 million in benefits in kind from the tax authorities.
These benefits include his apartment in Manhattan's upscale Upper West Side, leasing two Mercedes for him and his wife, or cash for his vacation.
The low-key man, who was officially paid some $ 940,000 a year between 2011 and 2018, is also accused of lying, claiming not to be a resident of New York City, to reduce his taxes.
The most serious of the charges against him could land him up to 15 years in prison, according to legal experts.
"It divides our country"
After the hearing, one of the attorneys for the Trump Organization, Alan Futerfas, dismissed the whole case as "politically motivated."
Donald Trump has again accused the two prosecutors who head the case - Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance and New York State prosecutor Letitia James, two Democrats - of "continuing their witch hunt", an expression he used. used throughout its mandate towards its detractors.
"It divides our country like never before," said the former Republican president, who maintains ambiguity over a possible new presidential bid in 2024.
His claims were refuted by District Attorney Carey Dunne.
"Contrary to what the company claims, this is not standard business practice," Dunne told the hearing. "They were orchestrated by executives at the highest level of the company, who profited financially by securing secret increases."
Democratic President Joe Biden, interviewed during a trip to Florida, declined to comment on his predecessor’s business.
Trump spared, for now
The indictments made public Thursday are the first fruits of an investigation launched more than two years ago by Cyrus Vance, later joined by Letitia James.
In particular, Mr. Vance fought for months to obtain the tax returns of the former New York tycoon, the first US president since the 1970s to not have them published.
The ex-president has not been implicated at this point, nor any member of his family.
But "the investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts wherever they take us," Letitia James warned after the hearing.
Trump's detractors make no secret of their hope that he will be personally challenged. Like his personal ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 and who has since collaborated with investigators against his former boss.
"The target of this investigation is not Allen Weisselberg (...) it is Trump himself," he told CNN on Thursday.
Even if Trump himself is not targeted, these charges should be a blow to his business, Beverly Moran, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, told AFP.
When a business is indicted, the banks that fund it are usually quick to ask it to repay its debts, she explained. The Trump Organization - which brings together golf clubs, luxury hotels and other real estate properties - being heavily in debt, it could "put it in a difficult financial position," she said.
Donald Trump was, in 2016, the first billionaire to enter the White House.
When he left for Washington, he refused to give up his business, as ethics experts recommended, simply handing over the reins to Allen Weisselberg and his two eldest sons, Donald Junior and Eric Trump.
