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Lawyers made comments when Chief Financial Officer Alan Weisselberg appeared in court for the first time since he pleaded not guilty to tax fraud.
The indicted Trump Organization’s chief financial officer and former Alan Wesselberg’s lawyer told a New York judge on Monday that he “has good reason to believe” that the state will continue to face more charges. Criminal investigation Enter the private real estate empire of former President Donald Trump.
Attorney Brian Scaratos made the remarks when Wesselberg appeared in court for the first time since he was arraigned on July 1 for tax fraud charges. Scaratos did not explain what led him to believe that more people would be charged in the closely watched case.
Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to allegations that he received more than $1.7 million in off-book compensation over a 15-year period, including apartment rent, car payments, and school tuition.
In recent weeks, two Trump Organization executives have previously testified Grand jury, Continue to meet behind closed doors to hear testimony and review the evidence in the case.
this 74-year-old Wesselberg In the company’s nearly five years, he has an in-depth understanding of the Trump Organization’s financial transactions. The allegations against him can cause the prosecutor to pressure him to cooperate with the investigation and tell them what he knows, but so far there is no indication of this.
“Mr. Wesselberg is separate from the Trump Organization. He is the only person here whose freedom is threatened,” Scaratos said.
“My concern is that he will become collateral damage in the larger fight between the Trump Organization and the DA office.”
Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Alan Weisselberg’s lawyer (middle) stated that the defense needs more time to prepare for the trial, partly because the tax fraud case against the former US president’s company File more prosecutions. [Craig Ruttle/AP Photo]Scaratos raised more questions about possible prosecutions, while arguing that it would take more time to review up to 6 million pages of documents. He said that prosecutors are using these documents as evidence, calling them “a daunting task.” “And said that the new prosecution will create a “moving target” as a defense.
Prosecutors said that Wesselberg was “no stranger” to many documents because they included business records of the Trump Organization, which the executive should have made or reviewed in his work.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan asked both parties to move and respond by early next year. He said he will decide on the motion at the hearing on July 12, 2022.
Merchan said that he expects to determine a trial date by then and may schedule it at the end of August or early September next year.
“The reason I mention it now is that everyone pays attention to it,” Merchan said. “I don’t have an exact date yet.”
Trump’s company was charged in this case, and prosecutors described it as a “thorough and bold” tax fraud scheme.
During a brief hearing on Monday, Weisselberg sat quietly next to his lawyer and did not talk to reporters on the way to and from the court. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is wearing a mask, and the court has set up clear plastic partitions between the parties.
In a two-year investigation into Trump’s business practices, New York prosecutors have long served as Trump’s chief financial officer, Alan Weisselberg, as the first criminal charge against him. The company of the same name and Wesselberg tax fraud [File: Evan Vucci/AP Photo]Trump himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He condemned the two-year investigation by the New York authorities into his business transactions as a “political witch hunt.”
Trump has stated that his company’s behavior is standard practice in the industry and is by no means a crime.
The indictment stated that from 2005 to this year, the Trump Organization and Wesselberg conspired to pay senior executives with generous fringe benefits to deceive tax authorities.
Wesselberg alone has been accused of defrauding more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undue tax refunds from the federal, state, and city governments.
The most serious charge against Weisselberg is gross theft, punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison. Allegations of tax fraud against the company are punishable by a fine of twice the unpaid tax or $250,000, whichever is higher.
Weisselberg’s lawyers Skarlatos and Mary Mulligan issued a statement after Monday’s hearing that the New York indictment was “full of unsupported and flawed facts and legal assertions.”
“We look forward to challenging these assertions in court,” the lawyers said.
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