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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Trump Organization CFO pleads guilty in tax case; agrees to testify
By MICHAEL R. SISAK NEW YORK©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
83 Comments
SuperLib
Just another person in Trump's orbit going to jail. Nothing to see here.
dagon
Weisselberg and Trump Org should have been shutdown and jailed in the 80's like Leona Helmsley.
But what they have been doing is chump change and de rigueur for oligarchs worldwide, and most of the names in the Panama and Pandora Papers who get away with much more remain unprosecuted.
Yrral
Gravante is a mob lawyer,he represents Trump and Weisselberg,total conflict of interest,and case for obstruction of justice
The Avenger
"I only hire the best people."
Nemo
An interesting plea agreement to be sure. This is not the deal prosecutors usually go for. Usually a cooperator is all-in or on trial.
But I think there is a distinction without a difference here.
Yes, it’s true that this is a case against the organization and any penalties, although heavy (Trump org might get the “death penalty” in addition to fines and penalties and be forbidden from operating in the state of NY) are essentially monetary in nature.
However, Trump Org LLC. is really a fig leaf for Trump. It’s a sole proprietorship with fake gold leaf. For all practical purposes, the org is Trump and Trump is the org as he owns 99.5% of the stock. To implicate the organization is to implicate Trump.
And that, plus taking the 5th (just like mobsters do!) 450 times in a civil trial (where unlike criminal proceedings it can be used to infer liability) is why the civil case and the criminal case against his business could easily morph into a criminal case against him personally.
Fortunately, one of his attorneys was general counsel for a parking garage, so he’s got the whole lawyer thing covered.
Nemo
It’s not obstruction, Larry. It’s just dodgy as hell.
theFu
The rats know when the ship is sinking. They jump.
Politik Kills
Yay!!
Express sister
Incredible how everyone around Trump - including those who are explicitly following his direct instructions and orders - are uniformly corrupt and criminal. But our Great American Leader and President for Life Trump himself remains so pure and innocent.
At least, that’s the impression I get from reading the posts from the far right on here. And I’m sure they’re a reliable sort who always read the articles in links they provide.
SuperLib
Just hose him off and throw him in jail like the rest of them.
Nemo
And just to head off the inevitable deflection; 5 months in Rikers (100 days with time off for good behavior) even in special segregation (so that he won’t get passed around the cell block like a party favor) is not easy time for a pudgy 75 year old man from the Upper East/West side.
Desert Tortoise
His clients are large corporations. He specializes in business crimes, commercial litigation and anti-trust litigation. Mr. Gravante currently serves as counsel in pending matters to the former CEO of a major insurance company‚ to Starr International Company and C.V. Starr & Co.‚ both multi-billion dollar investment companies‚ and to the Andy Warhol Foundation. He also serves as lead national trial counsel for thousands of independent retail pharmacies in a federal antitrust case against major drug manufacturers. Other representative clients of Mr. Gravante's include Carnival Corporation‚ Calvin Klein Inc.‚ Tyco International and several leading hedge funds. Not saying his clients are honest, few in the upper echelons of business are, but none qualify as mobsters.
bass4funk
Yeah, 3 months is just a tormented fallout.
bass4funk
Now just imagine if the Feds would look under the carpets in the Democrats household, the dust, mold and vermin they would find would be jaw dropping. The problem is, they’re just walking over the bodies as usual.
He never claimed or implied that unlike this administration and their minions.
Who the heck is far right on this site????
plasticmonkey
You, for one.
bass4funk
Not even close.
dagon
Not surprised your political metric is so off. With all the people you call "leftists".
Biden is a center-right neo-liberal.
Trmup supporters are an alt-right,far right nationalist mutation of the Republican Party.
wallace
Maybe someone will get him in Rikers.
bass4funk
I’m a conservative, but far-right? I wouldn’t pass these peoples litmus test.
Biden is nowhere close to being near right on anything, absolutely nothing. Center-left to be as gracious as I can be
No, we are all anti-Washington swamp establishment all the way.
Bob Fosse
See, you support a ‘slap on the wrist’ when it’s someone on your side. Anyone on the other team and you’d be outraged.
wallace
Trump has his own swamp.
Nemo
Or follow the Andy Duphraine example and to all the guards' taxes.
lincolnman
And this is after he "pleaded the 5th" over 500 times - they must have really had the goods on him...
And remember, Eric pleaded the 5th 500 times when asked the same questions....he's likely too stupid to take a deal, but I image Ivanka and Jared will - more "rats" diming each other out....can't wait...
Uh-oh, someone's "week from hell" just got even hotter....
I doubt if there's a clean wall without ketchup at Mar-A-Lago....ROFL...
Nemo
More than likely, this spells doom for Trump Org as a going concern. I think the odds of conviction at trial in October are a near certainty.
The penalties alone would be pretty severe. Being a felonious enterprise would cut the org off from most (legal) financing avenues, would most likely cause even more corporate tenants to move, and might very well result in the Trump org being banned from operating in NY State.
bass4funk
No, I just want the feds to equally go after all the Democrats who have done the same and worse, they can start with Lois Lerner. She didn’t even get a slap, she should’ve gotten more than just a slap.
No, I just don’t believe in it too tear just a system
Like I said, I’m annoyed that we have one system for conservatives and another one for liberals.
Bob Fosse
I see.
Express sister
You literally called Qanon cultists “sensible people”.
SuperLib
Trump fans have moved well beyond, "He's innocent!" to "He won't spend that much time in jail!"
JTC
I bet there are many other Companies massaging the figures a bit. Perhaps they too should be chased down ?
bass4funk
No, if the Feds would investigate them, that’s the complaint.
Yes, it is. After 7 years of faults and failures of them trying and failing to get this guy, no one believes this agency
If you look under one side of the house rooms, that might seem so, let’s open the other rooms in the dirty house and see.
Express sister
What they really want to do is go the Nixon route and claim, “if the President does it, it can’t be illegal”.
But there’s an obvious problem with this approach: Donald Trump is no longer the President. Joe Biden is. And they’re trying to convince people that he is a criminal. But if anything the President does is legal, then nothing Biden does can be illegal, so he can’t be a criminal by their definition.
So they’ve moved on to the next obvious step for a personality cult: “if Donald Trump does it, it can’t be illegal”.
lincolnman
The most sensible post I've seen from this poster all week...
And the runner-up - because "he's innocent" and "he's guilty and will spend some time in jail" mean the same thing...
Bob Fosse
Bass, any comments on Weisselberg and the appropriate punishment for grand larceny?
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
Lol That's not how an investigation works. You don't start investigation based on the premise that if one side is charged with a crime, you must charge the other side with a crime as well. If there is a credible allegation of wrongdoing, by all means investigate it, but not because of the target's political affiliation.
Lol nope. And they certainly haven't failed since the CFO has plead guilty.
Lol nope. Both the FBI and the Congressional committee investigated Hillary and they didn't find evidence of a crime. Keep trying.
bass4funk
Yeah, 3 months is just a tormented fallout.
bass4funk
It shouldn’t, but that’s what’s happening. Look, you don’t need to try and convince me, we all can see what the Feds have been and continue to do.
Well, looks like he did time served, no priors, so 15 months at the absolute worst level if even that.
No, they didn’t. No raid, no raid or arrest for destroying government properties, no charges for holding government documents out in the open in a friends restroom. She was subpoenaed to bring over documents and didn’t do so entirely and we can go on and on, but the fact of the matter remains is that, no one trusts the agency and under Bush, the Dems didn’t trust the Feds either. They thought Bush would weaponize the agency and never happened. 87K IRS agents?? Smh…
wallace
So we now know why Trump hid his tax returns. Just blank sheets.
3-5 months in Rikers for a 75-year-old millionaire will be hard.
Trump has a habit of canceling deals.
If Weisselberg fails to comply with the plea terms, prosecutors said they would seek a “significant state prison sentence," and Merchan warned that he could be subject to the maximum punishment for the top charge — grand larceny — of 15 years.
Allen Weisselberg, wealth $1 billion. How does an account earn that much?
https://moneyinc.com/allen-weisselberg-net-worth/
bass4funk
Now when it comes to the progressive and socialist ideology they’ll ace it with flying colors.
SuperLib
He's looking at 5 ro 15 years if he breaks his plea bargain to testify against Trump Co.
SuperLib
I like your thinking.
Lock them up!
Express sister
lol no he didn’t
Strangerland
Ohh, this can't be good for the Trump organization. When you have your CEO ready to testify against the organization for the feds, that's basically a death warrant for a company.
bass4funk
Depends on how he pleads, he wouldn’t be the first to be coerced into testifying
Not a big them, a few weeks (if that) and then go home
stormcrow
An arrogant organization, led by an arrogant man, doing arrogant things. Lie, lie, lie. No surprises here, except for the sheep who blindly follow this very arrogant man.
wallace
Trump's tax is the real Big Lie.
Express sister
He already plead guilty! I know you never read the articles but this time you didn’t even read the headline. Come on!
TokyoLiving
The criminal's house of cards keeps falling, and the trumpybelievers don't know what to do anymore, lol..
SuperLib
He pled guilty. It's only in the headline.
wallace
Allen Weisselberg, a senior Trump Organization adviser and formerly the company’s longtime chief financial officer, pleaded guilty to all 15 of the charges he faced in the case.
15 charges.
5 months in Rikers but stays out until he gives evidence.
The plea bargain also requires Weisselberg to testify truthfully as a prosecution witness when the Trump Organization goes on trial in October on related charges.
Otherwise 15 years in Rikers.
ClippetyClop
Trump cultists assume that because their man oozes criminality therefore his opponents must too.
The familiar, 'We do illegal stuff, so you must too' assumption to add to their victimhood status.
These people will make a fascinating case study in years to come.
bass4funk
Right, so let’s see what he will do to keep the jackals off his back, but not seem like a total fall guy for the Feds
bass4funk
Yes, and?
That ain’t…you know what, and in federal prison? Great food. Five months come and go so fast.
Strangerland
And nothing. He's one of the elites, they don't pay penalties like the rest of us. He will never go to a real jail, nor pay a real penalty. The worst will be the loss to image his family faces, when the whole world looks at them knowing that he's a criminal. That's hardly a just punishment. But such is a society created by the elites - they wouldn't actually want one that held them accountable.
Are you just learning all this?
SuperLib
LOL
plasticmonkey
You realize this case has nothing to do with the “Feds”, right?
wallace
bass4funk
10:56 am JST
So why not offer to do it for him. It will be a great experience for you. You could try out the Halal too. When you get back you can inform everyone about your trip to Rikers.
UChosePoorly
Rikers Island is federal?
konjo4u
He could have had a deal where he didn't need to go to jail at all, but this is what he wants. What sort of deal did the man get from the other side that he is willing to go to live with New York's lower class criminals on Riker's Island for 100 days?
Nemo
Rikers is the NYC lockup, Einstein. And it is NOTORIOUS for being a violent, infested hell-hole where inmates routinely "do not continue breathing."
UChosePoorly
the best possible deal he could take under the circumstances :)
wallace
bass4funk
10:54 am JST
What does this case have to do with the FEDS? Wrong place, wrong time.
Looks like the New York Trump Tower will topple.
wallace
bass4funk
Rikers Island is a 413.17-acre island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main prison complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under 100 acres in size, but has since grown to more than 400 acres.
ClippetyClop
They have an 'America First' edition for your delectation and delight. Hands are massively oversized. Made in China, naturally.
SuperLib
I hope he has fun.
Nemo
Of course it isn't compensating.....
ulysses
It's 5 months in Rikers and testifying against donald's criminal enterprise or spending 15 years at Rikers.
Weisselberg doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison and will choose the right option.
donald, on the other hand will either spend the rest of life in prison or in the poorhouse.
He's out of options!!!
Yrral
The comments will be coming soon as usual,the last call
bass4funk
Apply that same analogy for the Democrats next year
Are you just learning all this?
plasticmonkey
Cult 45ers have this idea that there’s a giant consolidated effort by libs, Dems, the left, the Feds, the deep state to sink Trump because they can’t stand his “conservative” ideology and his brilliant leadership skills.
Trump and his cronies are in various legal messes because they are crooked to the bone and always have been.
Blacklabel
there's not? the last 6 years of frenzied desperation to get Trump for something, anything, tells me otherwise.
As well as the advanced level of joy all these people feel when they think they finally "got" him.
Most investigated man in the history of the US, and still nothing. they would have gotten anyone else long ago if they bothered to investigate, the crimes are right in front of their face but they dont want those people unless they have connection to Trump. they gotta "get" Trump. at all costs. its their Moby Dick.
plasticmonkey
Fact. This is a case brought by NY state, not the federal government or the FBI. It would be wise for you to remember this distinction.
bass4funk
Choose a better beer.
Of course we all know that, been knowing it. They even know it. A bit late there…
not to mention the fact that he wants to dismantle the swamp and establishment RINO’s and Democrats
For seven years the Democrats have been trying to paint that picture and for some reason nothing sticking to the canvas
bass4funk
If you think so
wtfjapan
This is a case brought by NY state, not the federal government or the FBI. It would be wise for you to remember this distinction.
aka future presidents cant pardon you for state crimes, only federal,
coming up next NY prosecutors rape investigation, Georgia grand jury incoming
Nemo
It's widely reported, even in your bubble. Federal convicts don't go to city jail.
Are you really this thick?
Is that why you usually cut and paste then add mono-syllabic questions? (Hint: You don't sound like Socrates)
wtfjapan
Most investigated man in the history of the US, and still nothing.
did you see how Capone avoid prosecution for years, in the end they got him in tax evasion, his bookkeeper ratted on him. LOL
Nemo
I cannot help but notice how Don's loyal cult loves to parrot the "It's been so long" troupe but never happen to mention how it has been Trump and his merry band of morons who has engaged in a pattern of delay, fail to comply, fail to stand for interviews, fail to observe lawful subpoenas, been forced to testify under penalty of contempt, etc. etc. etc.
Delay and then say "This is old news" (It's not).
What fascinates me, especially with respect to 1/6 is that he somehow believes that the country is going to give up and move on without an accounting.
It's fascial to the point that one would question the sanity of anyone who postulates it. The idea that one would lose an election as he did, lie about it as he did, conspire to throw out the election as he did, and then conspire to incite a sedition to overthrow the legally elected government to over turn the results of an election he lost - as he did - and then think that he could just walk away without a reckoning....
It is the very definition of delusional.
There is no moving on without a reckoning. And Trump is going to face it sooner or later.
Chico3
So Weisselberg is going to the big house at Rikers. Have fun. 3 months there (even 1 month) is definitely no walk in the park.
Strangerland
I'll see your Trump, and raise you a Hillary.
bass4funk
And yet, the left still have nothing on this guy.
Maybe not, as far as unsuccessfully trying to take him down, that’s old news
Most of the country has indeed moved on. Only the J6 Democrats and one jobless Cheney care. That Schiff show is coming to an end as well.
Say the people that are obsessed with trying to nail Trump on the iron cross
So will the Democrats.