Trial Date Approaches for Trump’s Ex Partner in ‘Off the Books’ Tax Evasion Scheme
On Monday, Donald Trump’s former Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, sat in New York Supreme Court as Judge Juan Manuel Merchan delivered a motion schedule to him and his defense team. The schedule came eighty days after Weisselberg and his lawyers were initially served a 15-count indictment for felonies involving tax evasion from Weisselberg, as well as the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation dating back to spring of 2005.
In a heavily policed courtroom packed with reporters, Weisselberg’s lawyers, Mary Mulligan and Bryan Skarlatos, pleaded with Judge Merchan for more time. Their request was a schedule that took into account the six million documents they would have to comb through in order to file their pretrial motions.
According to Skarlatos, three million documents have been submitted as evidence by the prosecution since Weisselberg’s July 1 indictment. An additional three million documents were collected from Weisselberg’s basement the day prior to the motion schedule being set. The documents include tax records and other internal documents.
Skarlatos cites the undertaking of the influx of documents as impractical and a “herculean task,” as he expects more documents to surface resulting in additional indictments.
Judge Merchan remained unconvinced. “There is complexity but I’m mindful many of the documents came from the defendants themselves,” Judge Merchan said.
Skarlatos disagreed. “We don’t even know who we’re shooting at, we’re shooting at a moving target,” Skarlatos said.
Weisselberg, a native New Yorker from Brooklyn, has been a long-standing figure in the Trump family business. He first began working as an accountant for Trump’s father in 1973, eventually advancing his way to become the CFO of Trump Corporation, also known as the Trump Organization.
The 25-page indictment from Cyrus Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney, does not charge Trump himself but clearly states that “the purpose of the scheme was to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was ‘off the books.’”
The document lists fraudulent activities that took place over the course of 16 years to circumvent the tax system. These include lease payments on two personal Mercedes Benz vehicles for Weisselberg and his wife, as well as private school tuition payments for his children.
According to the indictment documents, Weisselberg continuously submitted payment requests to the Trump Corporation for “flat-screen televisions, the installation of carpeting, and furniture.”
His yearly salary from 2011 to 2018 was just under a million dollars at $940,000. This figure included a $400,000 end of year bonus.
Weisselberg entered a plea of not guilty back in July during his arraignment as the scheme to defraud in the first degree charge was delivered to him.
Skarlatos maintained his client’s lack of wrongdoing. “Allen Weisselberg is separate from the Trump Corporation,” Skarlatos said. “His liberty is at stake.”
Judge Merchan disagreed with Weisselberg being a separate entity from the Trump Corporation, citing Weisselberg’s long-standing familiarity with the documents the prosecution found.
“We differ on what fair and reasonable means but Allen Weisselberg knows what the documents mean,” he said.
Skarlatos in his request for more time noted his team’s “limited resources” to go through the extensive amount of documents and called on Judge Merchan to “balance the unfairness.”
While Judge Merchan would not wait until the documents are complete — a move Skarlatos requested — he did offer an additional 35 day extension.
Criminal procedure law mandates that all pre-trial motions be served or filed within 45 days of arraignment and before the commencement of trial. Combined with the 120 day application adjournment, a total of 200 days was granted to the defense team to gather their affairs. This is four times what the statute requires, according to Judge Merchan.
If no major developments occur, the trial date will be set for late August or early September of next year. The defense was advised not to plan any new cases or vacations that would conflict with this date.
“Keep it on your radar,” Judge Merchan said.
