Trump Organization to stand trial
Judge orders company, finance chief to face charges of tax fraud in proceedings this fall.
NEW YORK — Capping an extraordinary week in Donald Trump’s post-presidency, a New York judge ordered Friday that the Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief will stand trial in the fall on charges of tax fraud stemming from a criminal investigation into the company’s business practices.
Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Merchan scheduled jury selection for Oct. 24 in the case, which involves allegations that the Trump Organization gave Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including rent, car payments and school tuition.
Merchan denied requests by Weisselberg ’s lawyers and the Trump Organization to throw out the case, though he did drop one count of criminal tax fraud against the company, citing the statute of limitations.
Weisselberg’s lawyers argued that prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office were punishing him because he wouldn’t flip on the former president.
Merchan rejected that, saying at Friday’s hearing that evidence presented to the grand jury “was legally sufficient to support the charges in the indictment” and that those proceedings were properly conducted and their “integrity unimpaired.”
If the schedule holds, Weisselberg and the Trump Organization will be on trial during the November midterm elections, when Trump’s Republican Party could win control of one or both houses of Congress.
At the same time, Trump has been laying the groundwork for a potential comeback campaign for president in 2024.
The criminal trial is one of several legal concerns in Trump’s orbit.
FBI agents on Monday searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in an unrelated investigation, and on Thursday, he and the Department of Justice called for the public release of search warrant documents.
Trump sat for a deposition Wednesday as New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James wrapped up a parallel civil investigation into allegations that his company misled lenders and tax authorities about asset values. Trump invoked his 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Trump has not been charged in the criminal probe, but prosecutors have noted that he signed some of the checks at the center of the case.
Trump, who has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch hunt,” has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and were not criminal.
Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty.
Weisselberg is the only Trump executive charged in the years-long criminal investigation started by former Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus Vance Jr. and now overseen by his successor, Alvin Bragg. Several other Trump executives have been granted immunity to testify before a grand jury in the case.