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“The magnitude of this fraud deserves the highest financial sanction authorized by law,” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said in the company’s ruling.
Steinglass said the company “has cultivated a pervasive culture of fraud, underappreciated executive compensation, falsified business records, and other ways to help senior management evade taxes to keep its own costs as low as possible.”
The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, was the lead witness against the company. He pleaded guilty in August to 15 counts and agreed to testify in exchange for a significantly reduced sentence of five months in prison and five years of probation, which was imposed in court on Tuesday. He also paid the state more than $2 million in back taxes, penalties and interest. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
Trump Organization spokeswoman Kimberly Benza said in a statement on Friday that the verdict will be appealed.
In brief comments after the company’s sentencing, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the company’s punishment was “not enough” and said state corporate tax laws fraud should carry more severe penalties.
Trump has not been charged in connection with the tax fraud scheme. Bragg’s office still has an open investigation into Trump’s business practices and other matters.
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