(EFE).- The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty here Thursday to felony charges for ostensibly conspiring to commit tax fraud.
Weisselberg, who turned himself in to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office early Thursday before the unsealing of the grand jury indictment, appeared in court in handcuffs, but was released on his own recognizance after surrendering his passport.
He was joined in front of the judge by other senior executives of the business owned by former United States President Donald Trump.
“The charges relate to the alleged failure by Weisselberg to pay New York state and federal income taxes on approximately $1.7 million in compensation,” the office of New York state Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
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The investigation, initiated by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. and joined by the AG’s office, “will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead,” the statement said.
Though the former president has not been charged in connection with the alleged misconduct by his company, he was quick to denounce the indictment.
“The political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues. It is dividing our Country like never before!,” Donald Trump said in a statement.
Observers suggest that prosecutors will seek to use the charges against Weisselberg to pressure the 73-year-old accountant into providing damaging information about Trump.
But insiders describe Weisselberg, who joined the company in 1973, as very loyal to the former president, and the attorney for the Trump Organization, Alan Futerfas, said that the charges would be “vigorously contested by people who are experts in the field and know this law very, very well.”
The indictment contends that between 2005 and June 2021, Weisselberg received $1.76 million in under-the-table compensation from the Trump Organization in the form of lodging and tuition payments for members of his family, among other benefits.
By failing to declare that compensation, Weisselberg evaded more than $900,000 in federal, state and municipal taxes, prosecutors say.
The Trump Organization accused Vance of using Weisselberg as “a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former president.”
“The district attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS (Internal Revenue Service – the US tax agency) nor any other district attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics,” the Trump Organization said. EFE mvs/dr
© 2021 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.
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Trump has been a businessman for a long time. I think he knows what is and is not legal and I think he would hire qualified people who are also aware of that. More Trump Derangement Syndrome aimed at crippling elections in 2022 and 2024. And how much of Joe and Hunter Biden’s **** has been pursued?
Will the Conservative controlled House and Senate impeach the bumbling old fart?
HOWS about they impeach Clinton and BIDEN for their tax frauds THEY HAVE DONE via their foundations! OH and go after AL Sharptongue for HIS 4 MIL IN BACK TAXES he owes.
Has anyone seen Durham ? When you do , please inform him that they make machines now that all you need to do is talk into it and it will type up your report for you. All this time , It must be Several thousands of pages long !
Na its one page..
“Durrham report page 1. Nothing to see here. No crimes commited by the DNC.. Move along!”
“The dishonorable, dishonest Democrat Party saw Trump’s victory in 2016 as a sin for which Trump and his supporters must be punished,”
Nancy Pelosi admitted an unfortunate truth about her fabricated impeachment “farce”
– It hinges on witness’s “allegations” not “proof”.
It’s Not A Question” Of “Proof”, It’s About “Allegations”
https://youtu.be/7dzhIxeF204
The “Socialist Democrat Party State” political officers, Gestapo, Woke and Cancel Culture are just getting started.
You will obey, be loyal and support the “Socialist Democrat Party State” or you will be classified as
“Enemies of the State”.
24 Aug. 2020 – Monday on MSNBC’s “Live,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
referred to President Donald Trump and his Republican allies as
“domestic enemies” and “enemies of the State”.
It is known 0bama weaponized the IRS and used it against his opponents. When Donald Trump declared his candidacy they would have gone back through every line of every tax form he had every filed, looking for ANYTHING they could use against him. As he won primaries, they would have gotten increasingly desperate to find something to use.
They found NOTHING.
Not just that, but WE STILL HAVE YET TO see a single person IN THE IRS, even FIRED over that WILLFULLY ILLEGAL “Targeting they did’ of conservative CHARITIES…
This is outright harrasement and would never be tolerated by the Dem Party if this were a Leftist.
That the Republican Party is not speaking out against this disgusts me.
So when are they going to investigate ‘slow Joe’ and his drug addict son?
About the same time hell freezes over.
Witch hunt
Let me introduce you to…
The Ministry of Truth.
2021 is 1984
Now say your ten hail bidens, and goose step your way home.. OR else!.
This isn’t a political move! The same people uttering this nonsense probably have a deed to some ocean front property in AZ
I am starting a rewatch of ALL the bond movies, and there’s days i would have LOVED TO SEE Christopher Walken’s character, from the film View to a Kill, succeed in his plan, to break CA off into the ocean!