At Trump Org. fraud trial, defense rests and deflects blame
NEW YORK (AP) — The defense rested Monday at the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud trial after a contentious day in court, putting the case involving former President Donald Trump’s real estate empire on track for deliberations next week.
Trump Organization lawyers contend that Manhattan prosecutors are seeking to punish the company for longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg’s scheme to avoid personal income taxes on company-paid perks such as an apartment and luxury cars.
The defense insists that neither Trump nor the Trump family knew about Weisselberg’s 15- year scheme as it was happening and that the company didn’t benefit from his actions. Echoing Trump’s recent social media posts, the company’s lawyers suggested that its longtime accountant, Donald Bender, shared some blame for not catching the fraud.
The defense rested after calling just two witnesses: Bender, whom company lawyers sought to discredit and treat as a hostile witness, and a paralegal who appeared briefly to verify tax information referenced in a 2013 email that Weisselberg sent to Bender.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, with jurors expected to begin deliberating on Monday, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan said. Prosecutors said they might spend four or five hours summarizing the complex, numbers-rich case for jurors. Defense lawyers said they’ll likely need about three or four hours.
The lawyers and judge will meet Tuesday to finalize how Merchan will instruct jurors in the law — a critical step because a conviction or acquittal could hinge on how the jury understands the legal ramifications for a company when its executive commits a crime.
Merchan declined to rule on a defense motion to dismiss the charges and, given that he plans to proceed to closing arguments, it doesn’t appear he’s inclined to do so.
Trump Organization lawyers framed their defense case around Bender, calling him to the witness stand for three days that culminated Monday with them questioning the quality of his work and the reliability of his testimony.
Defense lawyer Susan Necheles started in on Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years overseeing tax returns for Trump’s hundreds of entities, after she said he “surprised” her when he testified that he didn’t actually do much work on the company’s tax returns.
Bender indicated that he delegated some work to other firm employees.
“That answer surprised me because it’s just not true,” Necheles said during a court conference held after Bender and the jury left the courtroom for a lunch break.
Necheles sought permission to confront Bender with records showing he spent more time working on tax returns for the Trump Corporation, the company’s main subsidiary, than he led on. But Necheles stopped short of saying she wanted to attack his credibility in front of the jurors.