The Trump Organization was found guilty of tax evasion by a Manhattan court in New York on Tuesday, December 6. This is the first time that the group of the former American president has been convicted in criminal proceedings. In this case, Donald Trump was not personally prosecuted, but this conviction remains a legal setback for him, when he is now officially a presidential candidate for 2024.
With our correspondent in Miami, David Thomson
It was the trial of a culture of fraud and greed within Donald Trump’s group, in the words of the Manhattan prosecutor. For years, the Trump Organization has been offering its executives a luxurious lifestyle with expensive benefits never declared for tax purposes: rental cars and luxury apartments in New York, cash for vacations or even private schools. paid for children.
In this trial, the star was not Trump himself but a certain Allen Wissembergthe former financial director of his group, who pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduction of his prison sentence.
A thorn in the side of the presidential candidate
After more than a month of hearings and a day of deliberation, the jury found the Trump Organization guilty on all 17 counts. The sentence is expected for January 13 and should correspond to a fine of 1.6 million dollars, which is little in view of the assets at stake, but this conviction for tax evasion tarnishes the political image of Donald Trump now officially candidate for the Republican nomination for 2024.
The former president, who immediately denounced a witch hunt, is still sued for tax evasion with three of his children; it is also the subject of two federal investigations, one for the classified documents found in his Florida residence by the FBI, the other for his role in thecapitol assault January 6th.