Trump Organization’s Cheif Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was formally indicted by a state judge on Thursday for an alleged scheme to defraud New York from 2005 until this year. Trump Organization, which owned by former US President Donald Trump, was also charged in the process.
The investigation which led to the judicial action against the company and its executives is the result of a three-year stride by the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The investigation was sparked with a deep look into Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen’s financial transactions, which reportedly included hush-money payments.
The business was under judicial scrutiny for possible violations under offenses such as misleading lenders and tax fraud. However, the direction of the probe recently pivoted towards Weisselberg’s involvement in the financial matters of the company as taxes on benefits were being searched.
Even though the former President had to sit through multiple inquiries as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States while the investigation was underway, the company is facing charges for the first time since its Trump has led it.
The Trump Organization has also responded to the criminal charges against its Chief Financial Officer Weisselberg and has labelled the step as “a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President“, according to reports from AFP.
The statement from the company spokesperson went on to shrug the charges off as a political move. “This is not justice. This is politics,” it read.
Trump, in a statement on Thursday, said that the criminal charges against his organisation will “divide the country”, reported AFP.
In the most recent updates, Weisselberg pleaded not guilty in a New York court to tax crimes on Thursday. The 73-year-old is accused of evading taxes on $1.7 million of income over a span of 15 years, AFP reported quoting the indictment.
