A night view of the main entrance to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. : Glynn Wilson

Staff Report –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s real estate company was found guilty of tax fraud Tuesday for helping executives dodge taxes on lavish perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars, in a significant repudiation of financial practices at the former president’s family business in what New York state prosecutors called a “culture of fraud and deception.”

A jury found the company guilty on all 17 counts on only the second day of deliberations, including conspiracy and falsifying business records.

Trump himself was not on trial, although prosecutors made an explosive claim at trial saying they had evidence about Trump himself “explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.”

New York prosecutors spent three years investigating Trump and his businesses, all while being attacked for engaging in a “witch hunt” by the former president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the verdict “underscores that in Manhattan we have one standard of justice for all.”

The Trump Organization could be fined up to $1.6 million, although Trump’s attorney said they would appeal the decision.

According to analysis by news organizations covering the trial on the ground in New York, the verdict adds to already mounting legal troubles for Trump, who faces a criminal investigation in Washington over the retention of top secret classified documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, as well as efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and inciting a seditious conspiracy and insurrection at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Those investigations were recently handed over to special counsel Jack Smith by Attorney General Merrick Garland, and nobody knows how long that could take or what charges might result as Trump is now actively running for president again, in some ways tying the hands of the Department of Justice trying to show the country that justice is not a partisan, political affair.

The district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is also leading an investigation into attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in that state.

The Manhattan district attorney’s case against the Trump Organization was built largely around testimony from the company’s former finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, who previously pleaded guilty to charges that he manipulated the company’s books and his own compensation package to illegally reduce his taxes. Weisselberg testified in exchange for a promised five-month jail sentence.

To convict the Trump Organization, prosecutors had to convince jurors that Weisselberg or his subordinate, Senior Vice President and Controller Jeffrey McConney, were “high managerial” agents acting on the company’s behalf and that the company also benefited from his scheme.

Trump Organization lawyers repeated the mantra “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg” throughout the monthlong trial. They contended the executive had gone rogue and betrayed the company’s trust. No one in the Trump family or the company was to blame, they argued.

After Tuesday’s verdict, a company lawyer, Susan Necheles, repeated that argument.

“Why would a corporation whose owner knew nothing about Weisselberg’s personal tax returns be criminally prosecuted for Allen Weisselberg’s personal conduct, for which they had no visibility or oversight? This case was unprecedented and legally incorrect,” she said.

Though he testified as a prosecution witness, Weisselberg also attempted to take responsibility on the witness stand, saying nobody in the Trump family knew what he was doing.

“It was my own personal greed that led to this,” an emotional Weisselberg testified.

Manhattan prosecutors alleged the former president “knew exactly what was going on” with the scheme, though he and the company’s lawyers have denied that.

Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in fringe benefits, testified that he and McConney conspired to hide that extra compensation from his income by deducting their cost from his pre-tax salary and issuing falsified W-2 forms.

During his closing argument, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass attempted to refute the claim that Trump knew nothing about the scheme. He showed jurors a lease Trump signed for Weisselberg’s company-paid apartment and a memo Trump initialed authorizing a pay cut for another executive who got perks.

“Mr. Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,” Steinglass argued.

The verdict doesn’t end Trump’s battle with Bragg, a Democrat who took office in January.

The D.A. has said that a related investigation of the former president that began under his predecessor, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., is “active and ongoing.”

In that wide-ranging probe, investigators have examined whether Trump misled banks and others about the value of his real estate holdings, golf courses and other assets — allegations at the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ pending lawsuit against the former president and his company.

The district attorney’s office has also investigated whether any state laws were broken when Trump’s allies made payments to two women who claimed to have had sexual affairs with the Republican years ago.

Near the end of his tenure last year, Vance directed deputies to present evidence to a grand jury for a possible indictment of Trump. After taking office, though, Bragg let that grand jury disband so he could give the case a fresh look.

On Monday, he confirmed that a new lead prosecutor had been brought on to handle that investigation, signaling again that it is still active.

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