Consequences of Trump Org guilty verdict

“As a practical matter, the potential $1.6M penalty is near meaningless,” noted former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, who is now a partner at the New York City-based law firm Rottenberg Lipman Rich PC.

[...]

Far more potentially onerous are two possible collateral consequences of the verdict. One is the threat that the company will be barred from conducting future business with the federal government, which could keep the Secret Service from staying at the former president’s hotels.

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The Trump Organization’s felony convictions do not automatically prevent the company from contracting with the federal government, but they could invoke what is known as the “debarment” process for contracts.

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Looming even larger for the company, the Trump Organization could also find itself in default on outstanding real estate loans.

“In virtually every real estate loan that I’ve been familiar with, over the last 25 years on commercial real estate in New York, there is a standard clause that says it is an event of default if the borrower is convicted of a felony that has as one of its elements: fraud,” Epner said.

[...]

A Manhattan jury returned guilty verdicts on all 17 counts leveled at the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corp., giving the companies a rap sheet that experts say would fall squarely into these standard real estate contract clause.

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In combination these two collateral consequences could cause “major financial headaches” for Trump.

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Being president of the United States was a status that improved Trump’s otherwise poor credit risk, Epner noted.

“Now, because rates have moved up so much, even his old above-market loans are well below market,” he added. “So if the lenders simply call the loans, they can lend out that money to him or to other people at much higher rates.”

[...]

“Today’s convictions are likely to embolden the DOJ and the Fulton County DA to continue moving their investigations towards indictments,” Epner predicted. “Acquittal of the Trump Organization would have meant the ‘Teflon’ was intact. Now, it is clear that, at least in New York, the Trump name can be convicted.”

  Law and Crime

Something that should have been done decades ago, which would have saved the country and the world the disastrous effects of having Trump in the White House.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And there it is

The Trump Organization could face a maximum of $1.61 million in fines when sentenced in mid-January. The company is not at risk of being dismantled because there is no mechanism under New York law that would dissolve the company. However, a felony conviction could impact its ability to do business or obtain loans or contracts.

[...]

“This was a case about greed and cheating,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation got away with a scheme that awarded high-level executives with lavish perks and compensation while intentionally concealing the benefits from the taxing authorities to avoid paying taxes. Today’s verdict holds these Trump companies accountable for their long-running criminal scheme.”

[...]

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury in closing arguments that Trump “explicitly sanctioned” tax fraud and urged them to reject the defense’s argument that former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was a rogue employee motivated by his own personal greed.

“This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true,” Steinglass said.

[...]

Weisselberg walked a fine line in his testimony, telling the jury he never wanted to hurt the company, he was driven by greed and mainly wanted to pay less in taxes. But, he also said, he knew at the time the company would benefit to some degree from his schemes.

In his testimony Weisselberg said, “It was a benefit to the company but primarily it was due to my greed.” He told the jury that the company saved money by paying less taxes on his off-the-books compensation and acknowledged when asked by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger if, while his primary goal was to avoid taxes, it also created a benefit to the company.

[...]

The jury heard that Trump agreed on a whim to pay the private school tuition for his Weisselberg’s grandchildren and signed a lease for a Manhattan apartment to shorten the executive’s commute. Trump personally signed his employees’ bonus checks at Christmas time and he initialed a memo reducing the salary of another top executives, which prosecutors said suggested he knew all along about the fraudulent scheme.

  CNN

Of ourse he did. Sadly, he was not on trial himself.

UPDATE:

Weisselberg walked a fine line in his testimony, telling the jury he never wanted to hurt the company, he was driven by greed and mainly wanted to pay less in taxes. But, he also said, he knew at the time the company would benefit to some degree from his schemes.

In his testimony Weisselberg said, “It was a benefit to the company but primarily it was due to my greed.”

  CNN

Also, when did he quit putting "45th President of the United States" on his announcements?

UPDATE:  The bigger consequences.

Of course he knew

After telling jurors on Thursday that Trump “knew exactly what was going on” with the scheme, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joshua Steinglass followed up by citing trial evidence and testimony that he said made clear “Mr. Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.”

[...]

Steinglass, speaking on the last day before deliberations at the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud, showed jurors a lease Trump signed for one executive’s Manhattan apartment and a memo the former president initialed authorizing a pay cut for another executive who got perks.

He also cited Weisselberg’s claim, during his three days of testimony, that he told Trump he would pay him back after Trump agreed to cover his grandchildren’s hefty private school tuition cost. Weisselberg then adjusted his payroll records to cut his pre-tax salary by the cost of the tuition.

[...]

Weisselberg testified that Trump didn’t know, but that the Trump Organization did derive some benefit because it didn’t have to pay him as much in actual salary.

[...]

[T]he company’s lawyers, in their summations, claimed that Trump knew nothing about it.

  The Hill

An absolutely improbable bit of bullshit.

At the outset of the trial, Merchan cautioned the defense and prosecution to avoid talking about Trump so as to not give jurors the impression that longtime real estate honcho was, or should have been, sitting at the defense table.

Well, he should have been.

After Steinglass finished Friday, Trump Organization lawyer Michael van der Veen asked Merchan to declare a mistrial, arguing that the prosecutor had irreparably harmed the defense by effectively portraying Trump as a co-conspirator in the tax fraud scheme.

“I don’t believe it’s necessary to declare a mistrial. That’s not really even a thought,” Merchan said, agreeing to instead caution jurors about Steinglass’ remarks.

[...]

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment, citing the ongoing trial. District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who inherited the case when he took office in January, has said that an investigation of Trump is “active and ongoing,” and that no decision has been made on whether to charge him.

Don't hold your breath.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

They said he wouldn't do it

But he did.

Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg testified in court Thursday, describing how Donald Trump and two of his children allegedly participated in a scheme to defraud tax authorities.

  CBSNews

Well, well, well.

Weisselberg said Donald Trump, or at times Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr., signed checks to pay up to $100,000 for private school tuition for Weisselberg's grandchildren. Weisselberg said he then instructed the company's controller to deduct the $100,000 from his salary, allowing him to report a smaller income. Copies of some of the checks signed by the Trumps have been shown in court.

[...]

He said for himself and several other executives, the salary reductions were then mitigated by hefty bonus checks paid to the executives as if they were independent contractors for Trump Organization entities.

[...]

Weisselberg said the funds delivered as independent contractor payments were used to set up Keogh retirement plans, tax-deferred pension accounts designed for people who are self-employed.

[...]

Two Trump Organization entities and Weisselberg are accused of more than a dozen counts of fraud and tax evasion. Weisselberg entered a guilty plea in August, admitting to charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office accusing him of receiving more than $1.7 million in untaxed compensation.

[...]

"Donald Trump always wanted to sign the bonus checks" before he became president in 2017, Weisselberg said.

That practice ceased during the next two years after an internal review led to changes at the company, he said.

"We were going through a company-wide cleanup process, making sure that since Mr. Trump was now president, everything was being done properly," Weisselberg said.

[...]

Defense attorneys for the Trump Organization have said the company did nothing wrong, and laid the scheme squarely at Weisselberg's feet, saying he hid the salary reductions and independent contractor payments from the Trumps.

Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas asked Weisselberg Thursday, "What human being did you scheme with?"

Weisselberg replied, "Jeff McConney," referring to the company's controller, who previously testified during the trial. McConney was granted immunity in exchange for grand jury testimony in the case, and blamed Weisselberg for the scheme.

Well, Weisselberg still protected Trump as much as he could.

"Did you conspire with any member of the Trump family?" Futerfas asked.

"No," Weisselberg replied.

"Did you scheme with Jeff McConney?" Futerfas asked.

"Yes," Weisselberg replied.

"Did you scheme with any member of the Trump family?" Futerfas asked.

"No," Weisselberg replied.

[...]

Futerfas asked, "Are you embarrassed about what you did?"

Choking up, Weisselberg replied, "More than you can imagine."

[...]

Earlier Thursday, Weisselberg said under questioning by a prosecutor that other executives at the company were active participants in, and beneficiaries of, similar salary and bonus arrangements.

It's not clear to me from this article whether Weisselberg is trying to claim Trump didn't know about the arrangements, and just signed checks. If so, I think we can safely assume that's a lie. I won't believe Donald Trump signed any check without knowing who it was going to and why, and neither should you.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Trump Organization CFO pleads guilty to tax evasion

Allen Weisselberg, who first met Donald Trump in the 1970s when he began working for Trump's father, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in New York that accused him of running a yearslong scheme to avoid taxes while he was the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to all 15 counts -- including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records -- and conceded he skirted taxes on nearly $2 million in income, including fringe benefits like rent, luxury cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

  ABC

He didn't do it without Trump's knowledge and consent.

"Rather than risk the possibility of 15 years in prison, he has agreed to serve 100 days. We are glad to have this behind him."

[...]

As part of his plea deal, Weisselberg, 75, agreed to serve five months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. He also agreed to testify against the Trump Organization when the company goes on trial in connection with the alleged compensation scheme beginning in October.

If he does not testify truthfully, the deal is off, exposing Weisselberg to additional prison time of between five and 15 years.

[...]

If he does not testify truthfully, the deal is off, exposing Weisselberg to additional prison time of between five and 15 years.

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The plea agreement contains no requirement for Trump's longtime CFO to cooperate in the criminal case against Trump himself, which centers on whether the former president knowingly misled tax authorities, lenders and insurance brokers by providing inaccurate financial statements about the value of his real estate portfolio.

Weisselberg must also pay back taxes and penalties totaling $1.94 million.

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Trump asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition last week as part of a parallel civil investigation by the New York Attorney General's office.

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The criminal investigation, which began under former Manhattan DA Cy Vance, appeared to stall earlier this year when the two senior prosecutors leading it resigned amid frustration that Bragg was not immediately seeking an indictment against Trump, sources told ABC News.

Bragg's office has said the investigation remains ongoing.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Weisselberg reaches a plea deal

[Trump Organization CFO] Allen Weisselberg is expected to criminally implicate Trump’s family real estate business when he pleads guilty to criminal tax fraud charges.

[...]

As part of Weisselberg’s plea deal — for which he’s expected to serve five months on Rikers Island — Weisselberg will agree to testify against the companies when they [go] to trial in October if he is called as a witness, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

  NY Daily News

Five months at Riker's won't be a picnic.  But it beats 15 years, which is what he could have faced with a deal.

Former President Donald Trump has not been named as a defendant in the Manhattan district attorney’s case, which stems from a broader probe into his business practices, and Weisselberg’s plea agreement contains no provision relating to cooperating against Trump.

I have to think Trump will be implicated in any lawsuit against the Trump Organization. And his criminal kids, too.

Weisselberg is expected to rescind his not guilty plea to charges alleging he dodged taxes on $1.7 million in fringe benefits while top of the Trump family business’s finances.

The plea deal will allow Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, to spend as little as 100 days behind bars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And it does not require Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, to cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney’s office in its broader investigation into Mr. Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing.

  NYT

Yet.

Mr. Weisselberg is not expected to implicate Mr. Trump or his family when he takes the stand in the October trial, the people said, and on cross-examination, the company’s lawyers could accuse him of pleading guilty only to spare himself a harsher sentence.

[...]

[H]is testimony — an acknowledgment from one of the Trump Organization’s top executives that he committed the crimes listed in the indictment — will undercut any effort by the company’s lawyers to contend that no crime was committed.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The DOJ investigating Trump

Finally, leaks are coming out.

Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle who sought to substitute Trump allies for certified electors from some states Joe Biden won.

[...]

Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and lawyer, Greg Jacob, appeared before the grand jury in downtown Washington in recent days, according to the people familiar with the investigation.

[...]

The Washington Post and other news organizations have previously written that the Justice Department is examining the conduct of Eastman, Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit. But the degree of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of senior Trump aides’ phone records.

[...]

Some of the questions focused directly on the extent of Trump’s involvement in the fake-elector effort led by his outside lawyers, including John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani.

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In trying to understand how and why Trump partisans and lawyers sought to change the outcome of the election, one person familiar with the probe said, investigators also want to understand, at a minimum, what Trump told his lawyers and senior officials to do. Any investigation surrounding the effort to undo the results of the election must navigate complex issues of First Amendment-protected political activity and when or whether a person’s speech could become part of an alleged conspiracy in support of a coup.

[...]

There are two principal tracks of the investigation that could ultimately lead to additional scrutiny of Trump.

[...]

The first centers on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, the type of charges already filed against individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and on two leaders of far-right groups, Stewart Rhodes and Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, who did not breach the Capitol but were allegedly involved in planning the day’s events.

The second involves potential fraud associated with the false-electors scheme or with pressure Trump and his allies allegedly put on the Justice Department and others to falsely claim that the election was rigged and votes were fraudulently cast.

[...]

[Attorney General Merrick] Garland told NBC News in a Tuesday interview that the department pursues justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable — that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”

  WaPo

Also, on the recent Brian Lehrer podcast, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg revealed that, contrary to speculation, his office has not dropped the previous DA's investigation into Trump's financial crimes, and that the trial of Trump Organization's CFO, Allen Weisselberg, on a 15-count indictment, will be held this fall.  Don't expect him to flip on Trump if he didn't do it before being charged.  But, according to Bragg, they are still investigating Trump himself.