New York prosecutors announced the details of the previously announced indictment against Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer at Trump Organization, and Trump Organization: 15 criminal charges, including grand larceny and tax fraud.Weisselberg was indicted for his role in leading the Trump Organization along with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and had been anticipated for several weeks. According to reports, it is part of a grand jury investigation into Trump's business practices that Cy Vance, the retired Manhattan District Attorney, has tried to get one of Trump's top lieutenants to testify.AdvertisementAlthough the result was predictable and had been predicted throughout the week, the indictment contained some interesting and new details. Particularly, several sections of the indictment showed how Trump Corporation took great care to document its own crimes using special spreadsheets to track Weisselberg's real compensation. This included $1.7 Million in unreported fringe benefit compensation and the actual compensation that would be reported by the IRS.AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to the prosecutors the bizarre bit of self-incrimination was as follows: Weisselberg's compensation was set by the Trump Corporation at a fixed amount, specifically $940,000, with bonuses from 2011-2018. Instead of simply paying him a salary and reporting it to the IRS, the Trump Organization allegedly diverted some of that money into fringe benefits such as tuition for his grandchildren at private schools, a Manhattan apartment for Weisselberg and his spouse, and leases for two Mercedes-Benzes. These perks should have all been considered taxable income by themselves, according to the indictment. But Weisselberg, and the Trump Organization, failed to report them as part his income. This allowed him to avoid hundreds of thousands in tax liability.AdvertisementSubscribe to the Slatest Newsletter Get a daily email update with the latest stories. Signing you up was not possible due to an error Please try again. To use this form, please enable jаvascript. Email address: I would like to receive updates on Slate special offers. You agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms by signing up. Thank you for signing up! You can cancel your subscription at any time.Here's the fun part. To dispel any suspicion that this was an innocent mix-up about which fringe benefits should be counted as income taxable, Trump corporation allegedly kept an internal spreadsheet that included Weisselberg's formal salary and bonuses to show how his true compensation amounted to $940,000. The fringe benefits were deducted directly from Weisselberg's gross salary in that separate spreadsheet.Another part of the fraud scheme was that Weisselberg also received cash that was not reported that he could use for holiday gratuities. Weisselberg arranged for the Trump Corporation to issue corporate checks payable to an employee of the Trump Organization. The checks were cashed and cash received. Weisselberg was granted the cash for his personal use. Trump Corporation booked the cash as Holiday Entertainment. However, internal spreadsheets showed that the cash was part of Weisselberg's employee compensation.AdvertisementOn Thursday, Donald Trump was not charged. The indictment does state that Trump signed checks to pay for fringe benefits. Trump's business model is marked by the way he has managed his business over the years. This is evident in the documentation that shows Weisselberg never received more than the agreed-upon compensation after fringe benefits had been accounted for.The New York Times reported that Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to another alleged Trump criminal scheme. This involved hush money payments for an adult film performer. He also referred to Trump and Weisselberg as Frick and Frack when referring to stiffing vendors.The Times reported further:[John] Burke was the chief financial officer of Mr. Trump's casino business. He said that any Trump employee who dealt directly with vendors knew how to extract every penny from them, and that Mr. Weisselberg excelled in minimizing or delaying payment.Trump has never been held responsible for the hundreds of allegedly stiffed contractors. However, his incompetence may be finally showing through, as his corporation allegedly took the precaution of cataloging every penny paid in fringe benefits to employees to make sure he wasn't overpaid.
