曼哈顿地区检察官塞鲁斯·万斯指控前总统唐纳德·特朗普的公司、特朗普集团和他的长期首席财务官艾伦·魏斯勒伯格根据周四在纽约公布的起诉书，他涉嫌税务欺诈。
自近两年前开始调查特朗普、他的公司、他的家人和同事的金融交易以来，这些指控是纽约检察官在此案中提出的首次指控。
在曼哈顿州最高法院公开的一份冗长的起诉书中，Weisselberg和该公司对包括二级重大盗窃罪在内的刑事指控拒不认罪。Weisselberg在他自己的担保下被释放，但被要求交出他的护照。
“这是一个长达15年的税务欺诈计划，”曼哈顿地区检察官办公室总法律顾问凯里·邓恩说。"这是由最高级的管理人员精心策划的。"
“在该计划的运作过程中，被告安排Weisselberg从Trump组织获得大约176万美元的间接雇员报酬...以使公司被告能够避免向税务机关报告的方式，”起诉书说。
特朗普，这些指控是“耻辱”和“可耻的”告诉ABC新闻起诉书公开后，称韦斯伯格是“一个了不起的人”
“耻辱，耻辱，耻辱，”前总统重复道。
对Weisselberg最严重的指控是二级重大盗窃罪，这是一项非暴力重罪，最多可判5至15年监禁。对该公司来说，最严重的指控是刑事税务欺诈指控，公司可能因此被罚款。
起诉书称，从2005年开始，Weisselberg使用特朗普公司的银行账户支付公寓租金，他和其他人使用特朗普公司的账户支付水电费。起诉书还指控Weisselberg隐瞒“间接报酬”，利用特朗普组织的付款为他的家人支付近36万美元的高档私立学校费用，以及近20万美元的豪华汽车租赁费用。
起诉书称，“魏斯勒伯格故意让间接补偿款项从他的个人纳税申报表中省略，尽管他知道这些款项代表应纳税收入，并在特朗普公司的内部记录中被视为补偿。”
特朗普称这项调查是万斯和纽约司法部长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯(Letitia James)出于政治动机的“政治迫害”。这项调查是地方检察官办公室和詹姆斯的共同努力，詹姆斯在竞选时承诺调查特朗普夫妇。
特朗普的律师艾伦·福特法斯在一份声明中说:“纽约地区检察官办公室提起的诉讼是前所未有的。”“我们不知道该办公室提起的任何有关雇员赔偿的案件，我们也找不到国税局提起的任何此类案件。赔偿案件由民事税务机关解决，而不是刑事指控。”
“首席财务官本人指示删除公司记录，以隐瞒他参与该计划，”邓恩在法庭诉讼期间表示。“即使是现在，也没有人试图对涉案人员进行处罚，举报犯罪行为，偿还所得，甚至修改任何虚假的纳税申报单。相反，当面对我们的调查时，公司的最高层决定不承担责任，不合作，如果公司想被视为良好的企业公民，就应该这样做。相反，它迫使我们进行了一年半的诉讼，包括两次前往最高法院。”
詹姆斯在指控后的一份声明中说:“今天是对特朗普集团及其首席财务官艾伦·韦斯伯格进行刑事调查的一个重要标志。”“这项调查将继续进行，我们将遵循事实和法律，无论它们可能导致什么。”
两年的酝酿
近两年来，特朗普案一直是曼哈顿检察官的焦点，他们一直在争取获得特朗普的纳税申报单和财务记录，一直到最高法院。调查源于特朗普前律师迈克尔·科恩的证词，他告诉国会特朗普组织以不同的方式评估其持有的资产当寻求贷款与向税务机关交涉时。
在最高法院3月份做出裁决后，前总统在Mazars USA的会计师将文件移交给了曼哈顿地方检察官办公室。一位消息人士当时告诉ABC新闻，特朗普的税务文件长达数百万页。大约在同一时间，万斯的团队扩大到让前联邦检察官马克·波梅兰茨(Mark Pomerantz)来审查材料，并帮助建立一个提交给大陪审团的案件。Pomerantz被任命为特别助理地区检察官，自今年早些时候加入曼哈顿检察官团队以来，他只参与了特朗普的案件。这位前联邦检察官专门研究白领金融犯罪。
最近几周，曼哈顿地方检察官做出了一个罕见的举动特别大陪审团专注于特朗普调查。美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)首先报道称，特朗普组织中最高级的官员之一杰夫·麦康奈尔(Jeff McConney)是出席特别大陪审团的几名证人之一。知情人士称，特朗普集团领导层没有其他成员被要求作证。
谁是Weisselberg?
为特朗普工作了几十年的Weisselberg是任期最长的特朗普员工之一，也被特朗普描述为最忠诚的员工之一。在加入年轻的唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)建立特朗普组织之前，魏斯勒伯格曾为特朗普的父亲弗雷德·特朗普(Fred Trump)工作。
特朗普在他2004年的著作《特朗普:像亿万富翁一样思考》中写道，韦斯伯格是一个“知道如何完成任务”的人，他做了“保护底线所必需的一切——并拒绝屈服于风险的压力。”
韦斯伯格还出现在《学徒》的至少一集里，特朗普称他为“强硬派”。
在2017年1月宣誓就任总统的前几天，特朗普任命魏斯尔伯格以及特朗普的两个成年儿子为特朗普组织的受托人。Weisselberg的儿子Barry也在Trump Organization工作，他曾在纽约市拥有的一些公司地产上工作。
韦斯伯格的前儿媳詹妮弗·韦斯伯格接受了地方检察官办公室的采访，她告诉ABC新闻，被问及从学校学费到家庭公寓和几辆汽车的所有问题。
“他们问的一些问题是关于艾伦在河畔大道特朗普广场公寓的薪酬，”詹妮弗·魏斯伯格在今年早些时候接受美国广播公司采访时表示。
曼哈顿以外更多
除了万斯一案，特朗普家族和公司正在接受纽约总检察长办公室的民事审查，该办公室已经罢免了魏斯勒伯格和至少特朗普的一个孩子，Eric，关于公司的财务交易，包括其两个慈善基金会的财务交易。
此外，华盛顿特区司法部长办公室对2017年特朗普就职委员会进行了长达一年的调查，调查资金是否被合理使用和说明特朗普就职后筹集了史上最多的资金，总计1.07亿美元。
特朗普的其他成年子女小唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump Jr .)和伊万卡(Ivanka)在那次调查中出庭作证，特朗普的老朋友、就职典礼主席汤姆·巴拉克(Tom Barrack)也是如此。那起案件中没有提出任何指控。
Manhattan DA charges Trump's company, CFO with tax fraud
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has charged former PresidentDonald Trump'scompany, the Trump Organization, and his longtime CFOAllen Weisselbergwith tax fraud, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in New York.
The charges are the first brought by New York prosecutors in the case since they launched their investigation nearly two years ago into the financial dealings of Trump, his company, his family, and associates.
Weisselberg and the company pleaded not guilty to criminal charges including grand larceny in the second degree as outlined in a lengthy indictment unsealed in Manhattan State Supreme Court. Weisselberg was released on his own recognizance but was required to surrender his passport.
"This was a 15-year-long tax fraud scheme," said Carey Dunn, general counsel for the Manhattan DA's office. "It was orchestrated by the most senior executives."
"During the operation of the scheme, the defendants arranged for Weisselberg to receive indirect employee compensation from the Trump Organization in the approximate amount of $1.76 million ... in ways that enabled the corporate defendants to avoid reporting it to the tax authorities," the indictment said.
The charges are a "disgrace" and "shameful," Trumptold ABC Newsafter the indictment was unsealed, calling Weisselberg "a tremendous person."
"Disgrace, disgrace, disgrace," the former president repeated.
The most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny in the second degree, is a nonviolent felony that carries a maximum of 5 to 15 years behind bars. The most serious counts for the company are the criminal tax fraud charges, for which the company could be fined.
The indictment said that, beginning in 2005, Weisselberg used the Trump corporation's bank account to pay the rent for his apartment, and he and others paid his utility bills using the Trump corporation's account. The indictment also accuses Weisselberg of concealing "indirect compensation" by using payments from the Trump Organization to cover nearly $360,000 in upscale private school payments for his family, and nearly $200,000 in luxury car leases.
"Weisselberg intentionally caused the indirect compensation payments to be omitted from his personal tax returns, despite knowing that those payments represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation in internal records," said the indictment.
Trump has called the investigation a politically motivated "witch hunt" by Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats. The investigation has been a joint effort by the DA's office and James, who campaigned on a promise of investigating the Trumps.
"The case brought by the New York District Attorney's Office is unprecedented," Trump attorney Alan Futerfas said in a statement. "We are unaware of any case brought by that office concerning employee compensation, and we cannot find any such case ever brought by the IRS. Compensation cases are resolved by civil tax authorities, not criminal charges."
"The CFO himself directed that company records be deleted to conceal his participation in the scheme," Dunn said during the court proceedings. "Even now, there's been no attempt to impose discipline on the people involved, to report the crimes, to repay the proceeds, or even to amend any of the false tax returns. Instead, when confronted by our investigation, the company, at the highest levels, decided not to accept responsibility and cooperate, which is what companies do if they want to be viewed as a good corporate citizen. Instead, it forced us into litigation for a year and a half, including two trips to the Supreme Court."
"Today is an important marker in the ongoing criminal investigation of the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg," James said in a statement following the charges. "This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead."
Two years in the making
For nearly two years the Trump case has been a focus of Manhattan prosecutors, who went all the way to the Supreme Court in the fight to access Trump's tax returns and financial records. The investigation stemmed from the testimony of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who told Congress the Trump Organizationvalued its holdings differentlywhen seeking loans versus when talking to tax authorities.
After a Supreme Court ruling in March, documents were turned over to the Manhattan DA's office by the former president's accountants at Mazars USA. The Trump tax documents run into the millions of pages, a source told ABC News at the time. Around the same time, Vance's team expanded to bring on former federal prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to scrutinize the material and aid in building a case to present to a grand jury. Pomerantz, who was named a special assistant district attorney, has only worked on the Trump case since joining the Manhattan DA's team earlier this year. The former federal prosecutor specializes in white collar financial crimes.
In recent weeks, the Manhattan DA made the rare move of impaneling aspecial grand juryfocused on the Trump probe. ABC News first reported that one of the most senior officials in the Trump Organization, Jeff McConney, was among several witnesses that appeared before the special grand jury. Sources familiar with the matter say no other members of the Trump Organization leadership were asked to testify.
Who is Weisselberg?
Weisselberg, who has worked for Trump for decades, is one of the longest-tenured Trump employees and has been described by Trump as one of the most loyal. Weisselberg worked for Trump's father, Fred Trump, before joining a young Donald Trump in building the Trump Organization.
Writing in his 2004 book, "Trump: Think Like a Billionaire," Trump described Weisselberg as someone who "knows how to get things done" and who did "whatever was necessary to protect the bottom line -- and refused to succumb to the pressures of risk."
Weisselberg also appeared in at least one episode of "The Apprentice," where Trump introduced him as "tough."
Days before taking the presidential oath of office in January 2017, Trump named Weisselberg, along with Trump's two adult sons, as trustees of the Trump Organization. Weisselberg's son, Barry, also works for the Trump Organization, where he has worked on some of the company's properties owned by the City of New York.
Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, has been interviewed by the district attorney's office, she told ABC News, and was asked about everything from school tuition to the family apartment and several cars.
"Some of the questions that they were asking were regarding Allen's compensation at the apartment at Trump Place on Riverside Boulevard," Jennifer Weisselberg told ABC News in an interview earlier this year.
More outside Manhattan
In addition the Vance case, the Trump family and company are under civil scrutiny by the New York attorney general's office, which has deposed Weisselberg and at leastone of Trump's children, Eric, regarding the company's financial dealings, including those of its two charitable foundations.
Additionally, the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office has had a yearslong probe into the 2017 Trump inauguration committee, investigating whether funds wereproperly spent and accounted forafter Trump's inauguration raised the most money in history, with a total of $107 million.
Trump's other adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka, have sat for depositions in that probe, as has Trump's longtime friend and inauguration chairman Tom Barrack. No charges have been brought in that case.
