NEW YORK — Donald Trump — the “elephant not in the room” at the Trump Organization trial — was brazenly aware of wide-ranging criminal tax fraud at his namesake company, a Manhattan prosecutor said Friday.
In his final statements to jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked them to reject assertions by Trump company lawyers that the ex-president was an innocent business owner whose top executives acted alone.
“This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant is just not real,” said Steinglass, later adding, “He is not on trial, but that doesn’t mean you should believe the defense’s narrative that Allen Weisselberg and Matthew Calamari went rogue.”
Steinglass pointed to a March 2012 memo in evidence from Chief Operating Officer Matthew Calamari to company controller Jeffrey McConney. In it, McConney directed Calamari to subtract the cost of luxury work expenses from his salary — a means of paying the company back $72,000 in untaxed perks.
Trump’s signature stamp of approval jumped out on the page in big black letters: “OK” written in Sharpie beside his initials.
“Mr. Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,” said Steinglass.
Trump is not charged in the case. Steinglass said it was essential to fact-check the “misleading impression” by Trump Organization lawyers “that all this was going on right under Donald Trump’s nose and that he was completely ignorant of any of it.”
During the trial, which started on Halloween, the jury heard from Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to the charges in August for a reduced prison sentence.
The CFO admitted dodging taxes on $1.7 million of fringe benefits not included in his taxable income, like rent on secondary apartments and Mercedes-Benz car leases. Calamari enjoyed the perks, too — along with his and Weisselberg’s wives and sons.
“This is all part of the Trump executive compensation package: free cars for you, free cars for your wife, free apartments for you, free apartments for your kids,” said Steinglass. “Why not pay them more? Because it would cost them double to give them the cars on the down low.”
To prove the Trump entities’ guilt, prosecutors must show Weisselberg committed the fraud in his official capacity as CFO and that he partially intended to benefit his employer.
“Can there be any clearer evidence that Allen Weisselberg intended at least some benefit ... when he hands money back to him?” said Steinglass. He later added, “Donald Trump would pay him directly and Weisselberg would pay him back in pre-tax dollars.”
When state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan sent jurors home Friday, he denied requests by Trump Organization lawyers to declare a mistrial based on all the Trump talk.
The Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. have pleaded not guilty to criminal tax fraud, conspiracy, falsification of business records, and related crimes. They face more than $1 million if convicted and a lot more in lawyers’ fees no matter the verdict.
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