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Donald Trump overcharged Secret Service agents protecting him and his family for rooms at his hotel in Washington while he was president, a new report from House Democrats alleges. The report points specifically to Nov. 28, 2017, when the Secret Service paid $600 apiece for several rooms for agents guarding Trump’s son Eric and his wife, Lara. On the same night, records show, more than 80 rooms were rented out at the Trump hotel at less than $600 a night. Craft booked rooms at the Trump hotel on 20 nights over the 11-month period, spending close to $30,000. But emails the committee obtained from the State Department show she insisted she stay at the Trump hotel.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Trump's, —, Trump’s, Eric, Lara, Kelly Craft, Craft, Albert Pirro, Jeanine Pirro, Pirro, “, Mazars Organizations: Secret, Democrats, Trump International, NBC News, Trump, Trump Corporation of jacking, Secret Service, Democratic, Trump Cabinet, United Nations, State Department, Fox News, Trump Corporation, Republicans Locations: Washington, Trump's Washington, Canada, Craft, Maryland, Doral, Florida

☆ Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg begs for leniency as he's sentenced to 5 months for Trump Org tax fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Top Trump money man Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months in Trump Org tax-dodge scheme. He testified in a monthlong tax crimes trial against the Trump Organization, which was found guilty. The former Trump Organization chief financial officer had overseen a decade-long scheme that allowed top executives to dodge hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. Along with charges against Weisselberg, the Manhattan district attorney's office brought charges against the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation, two of the entities that comprise the Trump Organization. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesWeisselberg's plea came after months of pressure from the Manhattan district attorney's office.

☆ Trump says Democrats 'weaponized' his tax returns while simultaneously boasting that the records show what a clever businessman he is
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump accused Democrats of weaponizing his tax returns against him. But he simultaneously said the documents, released Friday, show he's a savvy businessman. The documents released Friday — which span thousands of pages — showed that Trump and then First Lady Melania Trump reported millions in losses from 2015 to 2020. The Trump Organization now has felony status and could be ordered to pay up to $1.6 million in fees when it's sentenced next month. That's in addition to the $250 million civil lawsuit that New York Attorney General Letitia James' office filed against Trump, his three eldest children, and the Trump Organization in September.

CNN —A Manhattan criminal court judge held entities of the Trump Organization in criminal contempt for not complying with multiple grand jury subpoenas dating as far back as October 2020 and three court orders mandating they produce the requested evidence ahead of their recent tax fraud trial. Judge Juan Merchan’s order requiring that the Trump Org. Merchan ruled at the end of the Trump Org. The Trump companies did produce thousands of pages of documents in the discovery process, the order said, but still failed to fulfill key requests from prosecutors despite the court orders. Lawyers for the Trump companies claimed they were noncompliant in 2021 because the subpoenas were vague and the time frame to respond was “unreasonably short given the scope and breadth of the demands,” according to the court order.

☆ 5 reasons to applaud the smart, speedy jury that convicted the Trump Organization of tax fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump's company of all 17 tax-fraud counts on Tuesday. But he would not implicate anyone named Trump — not Donald Trump, who he worked for since the 1980s. And not any of Trump's three eldest kids — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, or Ivanka Trump, who have all served as Trump Organization executive vice presidents. Back during jury selection in late October, defense lawyers had the darnedest time finding Manhattan residents who didn't hate Donald Trump. They certainly did not look like Donald Trump's C-suite of well-paid, white-collar white men.

☆ Notes indicate Trump Organization tax-fraud jury may be zipping through deliberations on its 2nd day
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

tax-fraud trial in Manhattan. Jury notes have asked for readbacks of the law for counts 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9. A court officer sent in to the trial judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, a folded-over piece of white notebook paper. Prosecutors have also cited numerous documents signed by Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump as evidence they were aware of the scheme. But a tax-fraud conviction would cost the Trump Organization a penalty up to $1.6 million.

☆ Trump Organization found guilty on all counts in Manhattan tax-fraud trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The verdict means Trump's company now risks up to $1.6 million in penalties when it is sentenced on January 13. The company also now has felony status, meaning a big black eye as Trump makes his third run for president. Defense lawyers promised to appeal the verdict; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg thanked the jury and the prosecution team. The jury found that both subsidiaries — the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, both doing business as Trump Organization — were complicit in a decade-long tax-dodge scheme admittedly run by ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg and top payroll executive Jeffrey McConney. In Manhattan, no corporation is above the law," said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement.

☆ Deliberations have started in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial and the judge told jurors to 'set aside' any Trump biases
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Deliberations began Monday in the Trump Organization tax-fraud trial. Jurors must decide if the company is criminally liable for its top financial executives' tax crimes. 'Set aside any personal opinions or biases you may have against Trump,' the judge instructed. Three of the sworn jurors — a full quarter of the jury — said during jury selection that they don't like Trump or his politics. Prosecutors have said they did so to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes a year for the company's top executives, a half-dozen men one rung down the corporate ladder from the Trump family itself.

Prosecutors in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial said in their closing arguments Friday that the former president sanctioned what became a sweeping 15-year scheme to compensate top company executives off the books. “Donald Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud. “This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not real.”Attorneys for the defense objected to the late-trial move by the prosecution, which also mentioned Trump at the beginning of closing arguments on Thursday. The 15-count indictment in the case charges the company and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg with scheming to defraud, tax fraud and falsifying records. Donald Trump stands next to Allen Weisselberg at a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower on Jan. 11, 2017.

☆ DA in Trump Org closings accuses Donald Trump of 'sanctioning tax fraud' — and implies 1 witness was paid off
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In closings, a prosecutor took the extraordinary step of accusing Trump of "sanctioning tax fraud." This 2012 memo shows Donald Trump 'explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,' a prosecutor said in closing arguments on December 2, 2022, in the Trump Organization tax-fraud trial. multiple defense lawyers shouted when the prosecutor accused Trump of "sanctioning tax fraud," interrupting the closing arguments. Judge, we go back to the issue that he just argued Donald Trump was explicitly authorizing tax fraud," she complained. The Manhattan case charges two corporate subsidiaries — the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation, both doing business as the Trump Organization — with scheme to defraud, conspiracy and related tax-fraud crimes.

☆ 'Donald Trump knew exactly what was going on' in Trump Org. tax fraud, Manhattan prosecutor says in summations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Late Thursday, a prosecutor told jurors Trump "knew exactly" how his top executives dodged taxes. The "Trump was in on it" pronouncement, made in summations by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, prompted strong opposition from defense lawyers after jurors left the courtroom for the day. One defense lawyer, Alan Futerfas, objected that Steinglass violated an agreement not to speculate to jurors about what Trump knew or didn't know. "The first problem of the 'prodigal son' narrative," Steinglass told jurors Thursday, "is he didn't steal from the company. The two Trump Organization subsidiaries face a maximum $1.6 million in penalties if convicted of conspiracy, scheme to defraud, and tax fraud.

☆ Explainer: The Trump Organization trial is nearing its end. What's the case about?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here are answers to questions about the accusations the Trump Organization faces. WHAT IS THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION ACCUSED OF DOING? Trump Payroll Corp and the Trump Corporation have been charged with nine counts of scheme to defraud, conspiracy, tax fraud and other crimes. Lawyers for the Trump Organization have sought to shift the blame to Weisselberg, saying he cheated on his personal tax returns to benefit himself, not the company. Mazars cut ties with the Trump Organization this year.

☆ Trump Org defense closings feature a clueless Donald Trump and a big little loophole
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"Donald Trump was running a multi-billion-dollar corporate entity," one lawyer, Susan Necheles, told jurors of the Trump Organization's far-too-busy-for-fraud owner. But Weisselberg, she told jurors, hid his self-serving crimes from the Trumps, a family he'd worked for for more than 30 years. "You saw him on the witness stand almost crying" over betraying the Trump family, Necheles told jurors of the former finance chief, repeating for emphasis, "He was ashamed." "I ask you to remember that language," Necheles told the jury, reading it aloud. "The prosecution has been trying to convince you that Mr. Weisselberg's actions were done 'in behalf of' the company," Necheles said.

☆ Loyal ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg is done testifying at Trump Org tax-fraud trial that Trump calls 'VERY UNFAIR!'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Allen Weisselberg, Trump's ex-CFO, has finished testifying in the Trump Org trial. The Manhattan DA's case "has fallen apart," Trump grumbled, meanwhile, of the "VERY UNFAIR!" Still, his loyalties clearly remain with the same Trump Organization that is paying him. on salary that wasn't declared as salary, Susan Hoffinger, one of the two lead prosecutors, asked Weisselberg. "It was some benefit to the company," Weisselberg admitted, though he added, "but it was primarily through my greed."

☆ As Trump Org's jail-bound ex-CFO testifies, Harvey Weinstein's prison consultant is watching
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jail-bound Allen Weisselberg, Trump's ex-CFO, is testifying in the Trump Org tax-fraud trial. Harvey Weinstein's prison coach, Craig Rothfeld, is sitting with the ex-CFO's lawyers, watching. Clearly still loyal to Trump, his boss since the mid-'80s, Weisselberg has been doing a delicate dance on the witness stand. If he displeases prosecutors, the 75-year-old accountant could find himself serving a state prison term. Prosecutors, though, must prove that Weisselberg intended this benefit to the company, something he has yet to say.

Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's former chief financial officer, spoke about the savings during testimony as the prosecution's star witness. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to avoiding taxes on $1.76 million in income and helping engineer tax fraud. He said if the Trump Organization gave him a raise to cover those expenses, it would have cost the company twice as much to account for his resulting taxes. They have also sought to blame Mazars, which for many years prepared Trump Organization tax returns. The trial's first witness, Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, testified that he did not know whether executives' rent payments were taxable income.

☆ Tale of 2 Donalds: Trump Org defense shifts blame away from Donald Trump and onto Mazars' Donald Bender
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But another Donald — Mazars accountant Donald Bender — saw it all and said nothing, McConney said. "Did you understand that Mr. Bender was paid to make sure that the Trump Corporation books were kept correctly?" Bender, McConney told jurors, handled most of the Trump Organization's tax matters as a partner at Mazars, the Trump Organization's longtime outside accounting firm. Necheles, the defense lawyer, asked McConney, who answered, "Yes." Necheles asked McConney.

☆ First prosecution witness in Trump Org trial is still paid $450K a year — by the Trump Org
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Steinglass asked, in one awkward confrontation, as he labored to reacquaint himself in public with his own witness. Steinglass asked. Also paid for by the Trump Organization, McConney testified. "His attorney in fact is paid by the Trump Organization," Steinglass argued to the trial judge, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, outside the jury's hearing. Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization — the Trump Corporation, which employs its executives, and the Trump Payroll Corporation, which pays those executives — are charged in a 15-year tax-dodge scheme.

Prosecutors have charged two Trump Organization units with cheating tax authorities over a 15-year period. Lawyers for the two Trump Organization units said Weisselberg cheated on taxes to benefit himself, not the company. To prove the Trump Organization is guilty, prosecutors must show that a "high managerial agent" of the company - in this case, Weisselberg - acted in his official capacity. He and others also got paid bonuses from other Trump Organization entities as contractors, rather than as employees. Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the case, has rejected the argument that the Trump Organization was targeted for selective prosecution.

REUTERS/Go NakamuraNEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump's real estate company cheated tax authorities over a 15-year period, a New York prosecutor told a jury on Monday in her opening statement in the Trump Organization's criminal tax fraud trial. The Trump Organization has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the Trump Organization - which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world - could face up to $1.6 million in fines. It could also further complicate the real estate firm's ability to do business. Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the case, has rejected the argument that the Trump Organization was targeted for selective prosecution.

☆ Trump Org prosecutors reveal some of their own witnesses 'won't even talk to us' because they're pro-Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

During jury selection, prosecutors revealed two DA witnesses have stopped meeting with them. At least three DA witnesses, including Trump Org's ex-controller and CFO, remain on Trump's payroll. McConney and at least one other key DA witness also remain on the Trump payroll, Insider has learned from multiple sources. "And the fact that witnesses are still working at the Trump Corporation, that they're meeting with the Trump Corporation, they won't meet with us … Those things go towards, you know, witness hostility, witness adversity. I feel like they have been threatening me and my family and everybody in the Trump Corporation.'"

☆ Jury selection for the Trump Organization trial started with a warning: Brace for a long trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Laura Italiano | Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The criminal tax fraud trial of Trump's business empire has begun in Manhattan. The Trump Org was charged in 'a long-time scheme to defraud the tax authorities,' the judge said. Jurors were told that jury selection should take one week and that the trial could take five to six weeks after that. The Trump Organization, which has pleaded not guilty, could face harsh tax penalties and be fined more than $1 million if convicted. Conviction could hamper the company's business dealings and even prompt the government to bar the Trump Organization from doing business as a federal contractor, as Insider has previously reported.

☆ Trump was deposed in a fraud suit that involved a failed 'videophone' from 2008, which lawyers alleged was 'doomed almost from the outset:' report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump, his company, and his three oldest children are being sued in a class action lawsuit. The suit claims that Trump defrauded investors into backing ACN, an MLM telecommunications company. The lawsuit, filed in 2018, names Trump, his company Trump Corporation, and his three oldest children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump — as defendants. "Trump repeatedly praised ACN's 'great product' — its 'new ACN Video Phone.' But ACN's videophone was anything but great — the product was doomed almost from the outset," the lawsuit said.

His plea agreement requires him to testify at the trial against the Trump Organization, which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterJury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday in Manhattan state court. The Trump Organization could face up to $1.6 million in fines for the three tax fraud counts and six other counts that were brought. The company's lawyers also said prosecutors presented no evidence to the grand jury that returned the indictment that the Trump Organization evaded payroll taxes. Two other Trump Organization employees received compensation in the form of lodging and car leases, prosecutors said.

With the term “personal taxes,” however, Mr. Garten appears to be conflating income taxes with other federal taxes Mr. Trump has paid — Social Security, Medicare and taxes for his household employees. Fragments of Mr. Trump’s tax returns have leaked out before. Mr. Agalarov’s father, Aras, a billionaire who boasts of close ties to Mr. Putin, was Mr. Trump’s partner in the event. Mr. Trump’s avoidance of income taxes is one of the most striking discoveries in his tax returns, especially given the vast wash of income itemized elsewhere in those filings. When they got to line 56, the one for income taxes due, the amount was the same each year: $750.

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