周五，前总统唐纳德·特朗普的同名家族房地产公司在纽约被判处最高罚款对其17项罪名的定罪，包括一项为期13年的诈骗计划。
该公司将支付略高于160万美元的罚款。
尽管检察官、曼哈顿助理地方检察官约书亚·斯坦格拉斯(Joshua Steinglass)承认，这笔钱只是该公司收入的一小部分，但他称该公司被判有罪的计划“影响深远，厚颜无耻”
斯坦格拉斯说:“这一欺诈行为的规模之大，理应受到法律授权的最严厉的经济制裁。”。"被告培养了一种普遍的欺诈文化。"
法官胡安·马尔康判处了最高刑期，并斥责辩方继续将欺诈归咎于公司的会计。
“这不是证据所显示的，也不是陪审团所发现的，”Merchan说。
他给公司14天时间付款。
12月6日做出的判决认为，特朗普集团应对其一些高管的犯罪行为负责，主要是前首席财务官艾伦·魏斯勒伯格(Allen Weisselberg)谁被送进了监狱本周早些时候在赖克斯岛安排了将近200万美元的赔偿。
特朗普本人没有受到指控，该公司的辩护律师表示，他不知道该计划。然而，他的名字出现了几十次，主要是在对证人的辩护审查中。
辩护律师迈克尔·范德维恩(Michael van der Veen)在结案陈词中表示，陪审员“在本案中没有听到特朗普或他的任何孩子知道任何不当行为的证据。”
检察官称前总统批准了欺诈行为。他们向陪审团展示了特朗普签署的支票和他签名的备忘录
“唐纳德·特朗普幸福地一无所知的整个故事不是真的，”斯坦格拉斯在闭幕词中说。
“我想说得很清楚，我们认为这还不够，”曼哈顿地区检察官阿尔文·布拉格在判决后对记者说。“我们这个州的法律需要改变，以抓住这种十多年来系统性和令人震惊的欺诈行为，今天ADA很好地抓住了这种欺诈行为，并在整个审判过程中向你们，最重要的是向陪审团揭露了这种欺诈行为。”
检察官表示，特朗普组织安排Weisselberg和其他公司高管以额外津贴的形式获得部分薪酬，如私立学校学费和汽车付款，以逃税。检察官表示，这些高管这样做是为了帮助公司少付工资、奖金和工资税。
辩方辩称，高管们从未打算让公司受益，并表示高管们策划的计划完全是出于个人贪婪。
特朗普组织在判决后发布的一份声明中称魏斯勒伯格为“受害者”，他受到了“威胁、恐吓和恐吓”。
“纽约已经成为世界犯罪和谋杀之都，但这些出于政治动机的检察官将不惜一切代价抓住特朗普总统，并继续从他宣布当选总统那天开始的永无止境的政治迫害，”声明写道。“我们没有做错任何事，我们将对这一判决提出上诉。”
审判揭示了特朗普潜在的尴尬细节，包括近10亿美元的运营损失特朗普在2009年和2010年的两年时间里进行了报道。
特朗普的外部会计师也作证说，特朗普从2009年到2018年的八年里，每年都报告亏损，其中一些年份特朗普在真人秀和竞选活动中吹嘘自己的商业头脑。
“这是一起关于贪婪和欺骗的案件。在曼哈顿，没有公司可以凌驾于法律之上，”布拉格在上个月宣布判决时说道。“13年来，特朗普公司(Trump Corporation)和特朗普薪资公司(Trump Payroll Corporation)逃脱了一项计划，该计划向高层管理人员提供丰厚的津贴和薪酬，同时故意向税务机关隐瞒这些利益，以逃避纳税。”
除了罚款，特朗普集团还面临着潜在的连带后果，如果银行收回贷款或商业伙伴因内部条款禁止与重罪犯做生意而取消合同，后果可能会更严重。
Trump Organization sentenced to maximum fine following tax fraud conviction
Former President Donald Trump's namesake family real estate firm was sentenced to the maximum allowable fine Friday in New York following its conviction on 17 counts, including a 13-year scheme to defraud.
The company will pay a fine of just over $1.6 million.
While a prosecutor, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass, conceded the amount is a fraction of the company's earnings, he called the scheme it was convicted of "far-reaching and brazen."
"The sheer magnitude of this fraud merits the largest financial sanction authorized by law," Steinglass said. "The defendants cultivated a pervasive culture of fraud."
Judge Juan Merchan imposed the maximum sentence and scolded the defense for continuing to blame the company's accountant for the fraud.
"It's not what the evidence has showed and it's not what the jury found," Merchan said.
He gave the company 14 days to pay.
The verdict, delivered Dec. 6, held the Trump Organization liable for the criminal conduct of some of its top executives, mainly Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer who was sent to jail on Rikers Island earlier this week for arranging nearly $2 million of his compensation off the books.
Trump himself was not charged and the company's defense attorneys said he did not know about the scheme. However, his name came up dozens of times, mainly on defense examination of witnesses.
Defense attorney Michael van der Veen said in his closing statement that jurors "heard no evidence in this case that Mr. Trump or any of his children were aware of anything improper."
Prosecutors said the former president sanctioned fraud. They showed the jury checks Trump signed and a memo he initialed
"This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true," Steinglass said during his closing statement.
"I want to be very clear, we don't think that is enough" Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told reporters of the fine after the sentencing. "Our laws in this state need to change in order to capture this type of decade-plus systemic and egregious fraud that was captured so well today by the ADA and laid bare for you and most importantly for the jury throughout this trial."
Prosecutors said the Trump Organization arranged for Weisselberg and other company executives to receive part of their compensation in perks, like private school tuition and car payments, to evade taxes. In doing so, prosecutors said the executives had some intent to help the company pay less in salaries, bonuses and payroll taxes.
The defense argued the executives never intended to benefit the company and said the scheme the executives hatched was motivated solely by personal greed.
The Trump Organization called Weisselberg a "victim" who was "threatened, intimidated and terrorized" in a statement released after the sentencing.
"New York has become the crime and murder capital of the world, yet these politically motivated prosecutors will stop at nothing to get President Trump and continue the never ending witch-hunt which began the day he announced his presidency," the statement read. "We did nothing wrong and we will appeal this verdict."
The trial revealed potentially embarrassing details about Trump, including nearly $1 billion in operating losses Trump reported over a two-year period in 2009 and 2010.
Trump's outside accountant also testified that Trump reported losses each year for eight years from 2009 to 2018, some of the same years Trump was touting his business acumen on reality television and on the campaign trail.
"This was a case about greed and cheating. In Manhattan, no corporation is above the law," Bragg said at the time the verdict was announced last month. "For 13 years the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation got away with a scheme that awarded high-level executives with lavish perks and compensation while intentionally concealing the benefits from the taxing authorities to avoid paying taxes."
In addition to the fine, the Trump Organization faces potential collateral consequences that could be more severe if banks call in loans or business partners cancel contracts due to internal clauses that prohibit doing business with felons.
