Tax-fraud defense closings took place in a Manhattan courtroom.
The trial showed that the Trump family wasn't aware of the tax fraud.
A three-word loophole is leaning on by the defense.
Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump, the top-tier leadership of the Trump Organization, had no idea that a decade-long, personal tax-fraud scheme was being run by finance executives just one rung down the company ladder.
One lawyer told jurors that Donald Trump was running a multi billion dollar corporation.
He had a show on TV. She said he was building all over the place. He had gambling establishments.
She argued that Trump delegated all of the accounting functions of his real-estate and golf-resort empire to his trusted CFO, Allen Weisselberg.
She told jurors that Weisselberg hid his crimes from the Trump family.
Necheles argued that no member of the Trump family knew about his tax evasion.
She said that the ex-CFO was ashamed of what he was doing. Weisselberg made over a million dollars this year on paid leave.
Necheles told the jury that the former finance chief was ashamed of betraying the Trump family.
Another defense lawyer said that Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.
He testified that he's earning $450,000 this year, and that he's still on the Trump payroll.
The two men testified that they met with defense lawyers to prepare for their testimony. The pair's big Trump salaries and collaboration with defense lawyers made their testimony more pro-Trump.
The defense argued that both top money men had incentive to tell the truth because the prosecutors had them by the balls.
If he didn't tell the truth, he would lose the immunity he won from the Manhattan grand jury.
Weisselberg was sentenced to 100 days in jail for his admitted tax frauds, but he was only required to testify in his trial.
"He's telling the truth even if it's not what the prosecutors want to hear," van der Veer said.
He said that the pressure of going to jail is a lie.
The Trump Organization's two subsidiaries, the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation, have been on trial in the New York Supreme Court.
The two Trump Organization subsidiaries are fighting a possible $1.6 million in penalties and a felony conviction.
The organization's top payroll executive and Weisselberg must be held responsible for crimes they committed, according to prosecutors.
As they have throughout the trial, the defense worked hard to shift blame away from the Trump family, but they may find it difficult to argue that they are ignorant.
The signatures of Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. are on a decade's worth of memos, leases, and invoices at the center of the scheme.
The defense tried to argue that Trump was just being generous, not condoning a tax-dodge scheme, when he approved executive perks, and threw out three little words as a giant barrier against the company's guilt.
When an executive's crimes are committed in behalf of a company, they must be legally liable.
The presiding judge of the state Supreme Court has said that he will use giant displays to tell jurors about corporate liability law.
According to Mechan, acting in behalf of the company means acting with at least some intent to benefit the company.
Necheles asked the jury to remember the language.
"What does that mean?" she asked. It isn't on behalf of. It's in someone else's name. She said that the phrase has a specific meaning.
She said prosecutors need to prove that Weisselberg and/or McConney intended to help the company, not just their own bottom lines.
Both top money men deny that.
The prosecution is trying to convince you that Mr. Weisselberg's actions were for the company. Mr. Weisselberg has been telling you the same thing. They were done to help himself.
The overhead screen was used to show jurors repeated points in the trial transcript where Weisselberg and McConney said their only concern was to line their own pockets.
The core of the case is that.
Business Insider has an article on it.
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