Trump Org. begins closing arguments in fraud trial
Accused of helping executives avoid taxes
NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s company “cultivated a culture of fraud and deception” by lavishing luxe perks on executives and falsifying records to hide the compensation, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday during closing arguments at the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud trial.
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joshua Steinglass’ fiery summation followed defense arguments that sought to focus blame for the fraud on longtime company finance chief Allen Weisselberg, who has admitted scheming to avoid paying personal income taxes on a company-paid apartment, luxury cars and other goodies.
“Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg,” Trump Organization lawyer Michael Van der Veen said, punctuating his closing argument with the defense team’s mantra during the monthlong trial.
Steinglass pushed back when it was his turn, telling jurors: “Both halves of that sentence are wrong. It wasn’t just Weisselberg doing it and it wasn’t just Weisselberg who benefited.”
The Trump Organization, the entity through which the former president manages his real estate holdings and other ventures, is accused of helping Weisselberg and other executives avoid paying income taxes on company-paid perks.
Steinglass told jurors that the Trump Organization – through its subsidiaries Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. – is liable because Weisselberg and an underling he worked with on the scheme, controller Jeffrey McConney, were “high managerial” agents entrusted to act on behalf of the company and its various entities.
Steinglass will finish his closing argument on Friday.
If convicted, the Trump Organization could be fined more than $1 million. It could also face some difficulty making future deals.
But company lawyers argued that Weisselberg was only intending to benefit himself with his tax dodge scheme, not the Trump Organization, and that the company shouldn’t be blamed for his transgressions.
“We are here today for one reason and one reason only: the greed of Allen Weisselberg,” Trump Organization lawyer Susan Necheles said.
The tax fraud case is the only trial to arise from the Manhattan district attorney’s threeyear investigation of Trump and his business practices. Thursday’s closing arguments were the last chance for prosecutors and defense lawyers to sway jurors before they deliberate next week.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg watched from the courtroom gallery as Steinglass spoke.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in extras and testified against the Trump Organization in exchange for a promised sentence of five months in jail.
Weisselberg, now a senior adviser, has worked for Trump’s family for nearly 50 years, starting as an accountant for his real estate-developer father Fred Trump in 1973 before joined Donald Trump’s company in 1986.
The arguments got off to a rocky start as Necheles was caught showing jurors portions of witness testimony that had previously been stricken from the official court record.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan admonished Necheles after prosecutors objected to the display – the latest dust-up involving Trump Organization lawyers.
He halted arguments so she could remove any other precluded testimony from her slideshow.
Necheles said the error wasn’t intentional and apologized to the jury when she resumed her argument after a halfhour break.