Mercedes, Apartments and Tuition: A List of Trump CFO’s Perks
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were indicted after a three-year investigation of the former president's company by the Manhattan district attorney.
Here are some of the key points in the indictment, which includes 15 felony counts and was unsealed Thursday as Weisselberg and lawyers for Trump's company appeared in court. They pleaded not guilty to charges including grand larceny, tax fraud, conspiracy and falsifying of business records.
According to prosecutors:
- Weisselberg, 73, received a “substantial portion” of his compensation through costly perks that were “off the books” starting as early as 2005.
- He made $940,000 a year in salary and bonus but illegally pocketed $1.76 million in untaxed perks such as rent on his Manhattan apartment and tuition for family members.
- He failed to report those payments over 15 years to federal, state and New York City tax authorities, while the company falsified business records to help him cover his tracks.
- The biggest untaxed perk he enjoyed was an apartment lease on the West Side of Manhattan, where the company paid rent and related expenses of $1.17 million from 2005 through 2017.
- Trump's company paid $359,058 in tuition for two Weisselberg family members to attend private school in Manhattan from 2012 through 2017. As with the rent payments, the CFO omitted the tuition payments for tax filings.
- The company paid $196,245 to cover lease payments on Mercedes Benz cars for Weisselberg and his wife from 2005 to 2017.
- Weisselberg drew “ad hoc personal expenses” from the company for his home and apartment maintained by one of his children, including new beds, flat-screen televisions, carpet installation and furniture for Weisselberg's home in Florida. As with the other expenses, the company didn't report them to federal, state or local tax authorities.
- The scheme also benefited a family member who lived in a company-owned apartment on Central Park South in Manhattan from 2005 through 2012 for $1,000 a month, and who lived rent-free for a year in a Trump-owned apartment on East 61st Street.
- All told, Weisselberg evaded $556,385 in federal taxes, $106,568 in state taxes and $238,159 in New York City taxes as a result of the scheme. He also claimed $94,902 in federal tax refunds and $38,222 in state tax refunds to which he wasn't entitled.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
-
India's Troika Of Good Luck | Joining The Dots
A weaker Trump, a cooling AI trade and resilient earnings have put Indian markets back in favour. Rising inflation could spoil the party.
-
Talking Points This Week: Leadership Shock At Nvidia, Earnings Strength, And The Fog Over Hormuz
The Anthropic IPO pricing and first trading day, Nvidia's upcoming earnings, and any fresh signals from Iran will set the tone for the following week.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.