1 year ago
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A New York Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered the Trump Organization, former President Donald Trump's real estate empire to pay the maximum criminal penalty for charges including tax fraud.
The fine of $1.6 million is financially insignificant to the multibillion-dollar company, but New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg noted that the Trump Organization's felony conviction "was consequential."
It was "the first time ever for criminal conviction of former President Trump's companies, and indeed I would go so far as to say the first time ever for any former president certainly in my lifetime," Bragg told reporters in New York Friday.
"Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic, egregious fraud."
He added that state lawmakers should pass stricter penalties for corporate fraud.
"I want to be very clear—we don't think that is enough," Bragg said. "Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic, egregious fraud."
A jury in Manhattan found the Trump Organization guilty last month of 17 counts including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records.
The company's lawyers had requested a smaller financial penalty and had claimed Allen Weisselberg, an executive who pleaded guilty to numerous tax crimes and was sentenced to five months in prison earlier this week, was responsible for the company's fraudulent activity.
The Manhattan district attorney's office rejected that claim, with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass arguing that the Trump Organization carried out "a multi-dimensional scheme to defraud the tax authorities."
Bragg suggested Friday that more charges, potentially against the former Republican president, could follow.
The sentences handed down this week close "this important chapter of our ongoing investigation into the former president and his businesses," said Bragg. "We now move on to the next chapter."
