The Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million—the maximum legal amount—after being convicted of tax fraud.
A Manhattan jury in December found two companies under former President Trump’s real estate enterprise guilty of 17 separate counts of criminal tax fraud and faisifying business records. The conviction was connected to a 15-year scheme by the Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. to defraud tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on compensation for top executives.
The $1.6 million fine imposed by Judge Juan Manuel Merchan was the maximum allowed by law as it was equal to double the taxes the guilty executives avoided on benefits, including rent-free apartments in Trump-owned buildings, luxury cars, private school tuition and other personal expenses.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the fine constitutes “a fraction of the revenue” of the Trump Organization and that the scheme was “far-reaching and brazen.”
Neither former President Trump nor his family were charged in the case. However, Trump was mentioned repeatedly during the trial by prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office about his connection to the benefits doled out to the executives.
But jurors did not buy the defense’s argument that any and all wrongdoing should be pinned on the Trump Organization’s former Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, who had pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution.
The 75-year-old Weisselberg was sentenced Tuesday to five months, effective immediately, at Rikers Island.
Former President Trump, who in November announced he was running for reelection in 2024, has denied any wrongdoing and said he is being targeted because of politics.
In a statement released after sentencing, the Trump Organization said it did nothing wrong and would appeal the verdict.
