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Jan. 13 (UPI) — A New York Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered the family real estate business of former President Donald Trump to pay $1.6 million in criminal penalties for its conviction on tax fraud and other claims.
The Trump Organization’s two subsidiaries, The Trump Corp. and The Trump Payroll Corp., were both sentenced to the maximum possible fines under New York laws after the court convicted the Trump Organization in December for dishing out off-the-books perks to some of its top executives to escape taxes.
“Today, former President Trump’s companies were sentenced to the maximum fines allowed by law following historic convictions for a total of 17 felony crimes,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., said in a statement.” Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, The Trump Corporation, and The Trump Payroll Corp. conducted and benefitted from sweeping fraud for well over a decade.”
Trump’s lawyers sought a diminished penalty, blaming accounting firms Mazars USA for failing to stop the wrongdoing and Weisselberg for carrying out the scheme without the intent to benefit the company.
Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, argued the company carried out “a…
