It’s been a lonnnng time coming. The Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million for their decade-long tax fraud scheme. That doesn’t sound like much to a multi-billion dollar corporation that is alleged to have defrauded the government and US taxpayers orders of magnitude more than that amount, but it represents the maximum possible penalty for the charges.
“It isn’t sufficient. Plain and simple.” The law should “reflect what I think many of us see, particularly those who sat through the trial and saw the 13 year you know pattern of deep greed and misconduct laid bare, we should have stiffer penalties for conduct like that.”
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg
No one named “Trump” was charged in this case, though prosecutors say that Donald Trump “explicitly sanctioned” tax fraud in connection with his hand in the employee benefits portion of the case. Long-time CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to 5 months in jail for his role in the 15 tax fraud felonies that he pleaded guilty to, and will serve his time in an infirmary unit on Rikers island. Weisselberg has been on paid leave to the tune of $1 million per year, and reportedly received a generous severance package on his way out the door.
The Trump Organization has consulted the Trump playbook and claims that they are the victims in this case.
“We did nothing wrong and we will appeal this verdict.”
Trump spokesperson
But we’re far from finished. The grift was long and multi-layered, and so will be the consequences. A quick glance at the Trump comeuppance docket shows a few other cases we’re looking forward to in New York alone:
- Alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, with a side of improper use of campaign funds
- Insurance fraud, for improperly inflating assets on insurance claims
- $250 million civil suit filed against Donald, Ivanka, Junior, and Eric
Photo by Engin Yapici on Unsplash
