Former President Donald Trump’s company was ordered to pay $1.6 million on Friday — the maximum allowed by law — after pleading guilty in December to tax evasion and other financial crimes.
While this amount is insignificant for a company like the Trump Organization, it underscores the seriousness of the crime, another blow to the reputation of both the company and Trump himself.
The sentence was handed down by a New York State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan and capped a long investigation and legal battle over the Trump Organization’s financial practices.
The Trump Organization was indicted in December on all 17 counts of financial crimes for a long-running scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish perks, including Manhattan apartments, luxury cars, and private school tuition.
The sentence comes after the company’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Wesselberg, was sentenced to five months in prison on Tuesday. Wesselberg pleaded guilty to fraud charges and became the prosecution’s star witness in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Prosecutors did not indict Trump himself but accused him of knowing what was going on — and even approving key parts of the plan.
Trump has maintained that he has done nothing wrong, and lawyers for the Trump Organization argued throughout the trial that Wesselberg and other executives operated alone, with no Trump or his family members involved. But prosecutors said Trump was “apparently condoning tax fraud,” grand jury documents show, including one of Wesselberg’s properties with a lease signed by Trump.