(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.
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