Donald Trump’s business has been found guilty of criminal tax fraud spanning more than 15 years and now faces a fine of up to £1.3 million.
The former president’s real estate, hospitality and golf resort operation was charged with a scheme to defraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records.
On Tuesday December 6 jurors in New York Supreme Court found the Trump Organisation guilty after 24 hours of deliberations.
Prosecutors built the case largely around Trump’s longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to 15 counts including tax fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny.
He was promised a reduced sentence of five months in jail in exchange for testifying against the company.
Weisselberg had faced up to 15 years in prison.
The organisation’s scheme included avoiding paying personal income taxes on perks such as rent-free apartments and luxury cars.
The firm, which will be sentenced on January 13, had pleaded not guilty.
The former US president was not personally charged in the case.
Donald Trump has long claimed criminal and civil proceedings against him and his businesses are politically based.
He plans to run in the 2024 election but will face an uphill battle even within the Republican Party after the disastrous results in the US Midterms in November.
The incumbent party is usually thrashed but the Democrats held the Senate despite losing the House of Representatives.
Many of the Trump endorsed candidates failed in their bid and MAGA stars such as Lauren Boebert only scraped to victory.
Lining up in the wings are Trump-alternatives such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Odds Checker currently has DeSantis as the candidate most likely to win the 2024 election if he chooses to run, followed by Biden and then Trump.
It isn't just Trump's business ventures that face particular scrutiny but also his personal life.
He has recently been sued for battery and defamation under a law which allowed Prince Andrew to be pursued by his historic sex accuser.
Ex-magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll filed legal papers today against the former President.
They were lodged on the first day that civil lawsuits can be brought under a new law in New York, the Adult Survivors Act, which gives adults a one-year window to file a claim.
Carroll’s lawsuit is the second she has brought against Trump but the first to seek to hold him accountable for battery for allegedly raping her in a department store’s dressing room.
The lawsuit also alleges a new defamation claim based on statements Trump made last month.
She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for pain and suffering, psychological harm, dignity loss and reputation damage.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, first made the claim in a 2019 book, saying Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan luxury department store in 1995 or 1996.
