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☆ Trump Org lawyers debut a new defense at the company's New York tax-fraud trial: Trump is just a generous boss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Trump Organization criminal tax-fraud trial is in its fourth week in lower Manhattan. On Tuesday, lawyers for Trump's company debuted a new defense: Trump is just a generous boss. An employee brushed off the DA's best evidence — checks signed by Trump — as mere "gifts." defense lawyer Michael van der Veen asked the witness, referring to Allen Weisselberg, the company's ex-CFO. Trump's company, though not Trump himself, is on trial in New York Supreme Court fighting charges it was in on the scheme.

☆ Trump Org is battling prosecutors over 3 little words that could swing the New York tax-fraud trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

It's not enough, they'll be told, for Trump Org executives to get caught selfishly stuffing their pockets. Prosecutors, meanwhile, find the three words so worrisome, they asked the judge — unsuccessfully — to strike them from the case entirely. In defense of their love or hate of the three words, the sides have cited a gamut of arcane case law and other source material. Holtzman — who, as a US Congresswoman, voted to impeach Richard Nixon — is the author of "The Case For Impeaching Trump." Much of the case law being cited, the judge said, was not quite on point, including the bilge and thermometer decisions.

Prosecutors in Manhattan charged the company with being involved in a 15-year tax fraud scheme. Asked whether former President Donald Trump, who was running the business at the time, was aware of the scheme, McConney said Weisselberg told him that Trump knew about it. He said the payments system stopped after Trump was elected president and one of his tax advisers, Sheri Dillon, reviewed the company's business practices. On cross-examination by Trump company lawyer Susan Necheles, McConney painted Weisselberg as the lone bad actor, calling him a "micromanager" who had to sign off on all financial decisions. Weisselberg, who worked for Trump for decades and was indicted alongside the company last year, pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges in August.

Companies Trump Organization Inc FollowNov 10 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump was aware of allegedly illegal tax practices at his namesake real estate company, a senior executive indicated in testimony on Thursday during the Trump Organization's criminal trial on charges of tax fraud. McConney was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying, and remains employed by the Trump Organization. Asked whether he helped people evade tax, McConney said, "Evade is a very strong word. McConney said a former general counsel, Jason Greenblatt, received bonuses as non-employee compensation until 2011 when the company's accountant told McConney to stop. McConney also identified Trump's initials on a memo concerning the reduction of Trump Organization executive Matthew Calamari's salary by $72,000, reflecting rent for his apartment.

☆ Trump Org begins turning prosecution witnesses to their own advantage in 'politically motivated' tax-fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"I just felt this was politically motivated," McConney told jurors on Thursday of how prosecutors treated him before he decided to stop cooperating. Mazars severed ties with the Trump Organization in February after publicly questioning "discrepancies" in the Trump Organization's finances. Steinglass also elicited more testimony from McConney on what the prosecutor called a 2017 "clean up" of the company's books. "Nobody told me specifically," McConney said, "that this change was because Mr. Trump became President Trump. Prosecutors must prove that Trump's company was in on Weisselberg's admitted tax-fraud efforts.

☆ Trump Org jury sees 1st evidence linking Donald Trump's Sharpie to alleged tax-dodge scheme
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The documents were introduced through the trial's first witness, Jeffrey McConney, who as Trump Organization's controller is responsible for its payroll and tax reporting. "President Trump," McConney said of the signature, identifying the now widely-recognized, mini mountain range of Sharpie ink at the bottom of the letter. "In other words, Donald J. Trump authorized Donald J. Trump to sign the lease" for the apartment, Steinglass asked of the letter's content. "Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg," as Trump Organization lawyer Michael van der Veen told jurors repeatedly in openings. "Who decided that Donald Trump would pay Allen Weisselberg's tuition," the prosecutor then asked.

☆ Trump Organization Trial Delayed Due to Covid-19
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A recent courtroom sketch showing Justice Juan Merchan, defense lawyers and prosecutors at the Trump Organization’s trial in New York. The Trump Organization’s criminal tax-fraud trial was delayed Tuesday after the prosecution’s first witness tested positive for Covid-19. Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, who testified on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, took a Covid-19 test after coughing through his morning testimony. He didn’t wear a mask in court.

The criminal trial focused on the Trump Organization was delayed until next week after a witness in the case tested positive for Covid on Tuesday. McConney, the first witness to be called in the case, had been coughing frequently since taking the stand on Monday. The judge presiding over the case, acting state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, adjourned the case until Nov. 7. McConney acknowledged on the stand that Trump signed $359,000 in checks for tuition for Weisselberg's grandchildren in the years before he was elected president. Weisselberg had been expected to testify next week, but McConney's illness will likely push back Weisselberg's testimony to mid-November.

☆ Trump Organization tax fraud trial delayed after witness tests positive for COVID
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The criminal tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization was put on hold on Tuesday after the company's controller, Jeffrey McConney, who had been testifying as a prosecution witness, tested positive for COVID-19. The Trump Organization operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world. The two Trump Organization units charged have pleaded not guilty. The judge later announced that McConney tested positive. If convicted, the Trump Organization could face $1.6 million in fines.

☆ 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.

☆ The Trump Org trial is suddenly derailed after DA's coughing witness tests positive for COVID-19
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Laura Italiano | Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Prosecutors' 1st witness in the Trump Organization tax fraud trial has tested positive for COVID-19. The trial was adjourned to Monday after Jeffrey McConney, the company's controller, fell ill.McConney had coughed throughout his testimony Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. "It comes and goes," McConney, the trial's very first witness, apologized repeatedly as he sat unmasked in the witness stand and coughed throughout two days of testimony. The jury in the high-profile trial was brought into the courtroom and told by the judge that "someone in the well" had tested positive. Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization ran a 15-year scheme to trick tax authorites by giving top executives significant compensation in the form of untaxed "perks" like luxury cars and rent-free Trump-branded apartments.

☆ 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.'"

The charges to which Weisselberg pleaded guilty included grand larceny and tax fraud, and he admitted concealing $1.76 million in income. The Trump Organization, which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world, could face up to $1.6 million in fines for the three tax fraud counts and six other counts it faces. In his guilty plea, Weisselberg admitted to scheming with the company so that "substantial portions" of his and other employees' income was unreported or misreported. Weisselberg has worked for the Trump Organization for nearly half a century. After his guilty plea, he was placed on a paid leave of absence, according to a person familiar with the matter.

☆ Trump company set for criminal trial in an off-books pay scheme
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

If convicted, the Trump Organization could be fined more than $1 million — but that's not the only potential fallout. The Trump Organization has said it did nothing wrong and that it looks forward "to having our day in court." The former Trump Organization chief financial officer must also pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest and complete five years of probation. When the Trump Organization and Weisselberg were indicted in 2021, prosecutors called the tax scheme "sweeping and audacious" and said it was "orchestrated by the most senior executives." "The purpose of the scheme was to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was 'off the books,'" the indictment said.

☆ Michael Cohen says New York investigation will 'ultimately terminate' the Trump Organization: 'This is going to put an end to the entire company'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Michael Cohen said the New York probe into the Trump Organization would "end to the entire company." Cohen, who worked for Trump and was his fixer and confidante for a decade, spoke to MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday, weighing in on the ongoing probe in New York into the Trump Organization. Cohen told MSNBC that the investigation sparked by New York Attorney General's $250 million civil lawsuit against the Trump family would "ultimately terminate the Trump Organization — Donald, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Weisselberg, McConney, and the rest of them." Trump's three eldest children — Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump — are listed in James' lawsuit. Representatives at Trump's post-presidential press office and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Jay Powell just went full Volcker
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But in just a few months, that sizable jump has become the norm, and it’s almost certainly sealed Jay Powell’s status as the Paul Volcker of the 2020s. “Chair Powell just announced another extreme interest rate hike while forecasting higher unemployment,” Warren tweeted. Bottom line: Powell continues to draw from the Volcker playbook, which means he’s unlikely to waver on the Fed’s target rate of 2% inflation, lest the central bank’s credibility take another blow. Only time will tell whether that 40-plus-year-old playbook still applies in an economy that’s fundamentally different from the one Volcker confronted. Trump also lied about the square footage of his Trump Tower triplex apartment to inflate the value at over $300 million, James alleges.

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