Donald Trump’s company fined $1.6m for years-long tax fraud scheme

Donald Trump’s eponymous company has been fined $1.6m after a New York City jury convicted two Trump Organization subsidiaries on charges stemming from what prosecutors described as a years-long scheme to avoid paying payroll taxes by compensating top executives with lavish untaxed perks.

The December verdict followed an indictment filed last year against the Trump Corporation, the Trump Payroll Corporation, and the Trump Organization’s long-time chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who was sentenced to five months in jail this week.

The former longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization had pleaded guilty to several tax crimes stemming from the criminal investigation into the former president’s business empire.

He pleaded guilty to 15 violations of New York tax law in August after prosecutors accused him of participating in a “systemic” fraud scheme and a “sweeping and audacious illegal payment” arrangement in which Trump companies paid him generous benefits – including free rent, luxury car leases, and private school tuition for his grandchildren – that were not reported for tax purposes.

This is a developing story