The family business of former US President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, was sentenced on Friday January 13 in New York to a fine of $1.6 million for financial and tax fraud.

This is a criminal first for the group, which awaits an even larger civil trial in 2023.

The group of the American billionaire – candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential election of 2024 – was tried for tax evasion and falsification of accounting declarations, in particular with the aim of hiding from the tax services financial compensation from certain senior leaders.

"Maximum fines"

"Today, former President Trump's businesses were fined the maximum fines allowed by law after historic convictions for a total of 17 misdemeanor felonies," prosecutor Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

Concretely, the Trump Organization, which brings together golf clubs, luxury hotels and real estate properties, was accused of having granted financial or in-kind benefits to senior leaders while concealing them from the tax authorities to avoid paying taxes. , from 2005 to 2018.

Among them, a former historic financial director of the company, Allen Weisselberg, long very close to Donald Trump, who pleaded guilty to 15 charges and was sentenced Tuesday in the same case to five months in prison and more than two million dollar fine.

At the announcement of his sentence, Allen Weisselberg, 75, who had started working in 1973 as an accountant for the father of Donald Trump, left handcuffed in the direction of the prison of Rikers Island to serve his sentence.

He was accused of benefiting from the free rental of a luxury apartment in Manhattan, the provision of Mercedes cars or the payment of private school tuition for his grandchildren, approximately 1 $.76 million in unreported income for years.

Trump in court with his children

The Trump Organization had announced as early as December 6, when his guilt was announced, through one of his lawyers, Susan Necheles, that she would appeal, while seeking to blame Allen Weisselberg, assuring that he had himself "declared under oath (to have) 'betrayed' the trust (of) the company".

Donald Trump, who has denounced a "witch hunt" several times, was not personally targeted in this trial and he is not charged in any legal case at this stage, but he sees the files accumulating in court so that he addresses the race for the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential election of 2024.

In the two most resounding cases, the attack by his supporters on the headquarters of Congress on January 6, 2021 and the attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the special prosecutor Jack Smith must in particular look into possible prosecutions. for the role of former US President (2017-2021).

If he is not criminally charged, the billionaire must however appear in civil court in New York, with three of his children, Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka, accused like them of fraudulent tax practices within the Trump Organization.

In this case, New York State Attorney General Letitia James accuses the Trump family of having "deliberately" manipulated the valuations of the group's assets to obtain more advantageous loans from banks or reduce its taxes.

She is seeking $250 million in damages on behalf of the state, as well as bans from running companies for the ex-president and those close to him.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app