“This case is about greed and cheating,” the lead prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, said, as she accused the former president’s company of taking part in a scheme to avoid paying taxes.
The trial of Donald J. Trump’s family business opened on Monday, with prosecutors accusing the company of running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with lavish off-the-books perks.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office told a jury that two of the many corporations that comprise Mr. Trump’s real estate business — the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp. — engaged in the scheme since at least 2005. They said that one executive, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, received $1.76 million in perks, including the rent on an Upper West Side apartment, leased Mercedes-Benzes and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
Susan Hoffinger, who leads the investigations division at the Manhattan district attorney’s office and who delivered the opening for the prosecution, seemed eager to mention Mr. Trump personally whenever possible.
Though Mr. Trump has not been charged and is not expected to be implicated, linking him to the case may influence a Manhattan jury. Several members said last week during jury selection that they had opinions about the former president.
“This case is about greed and cheating,” Ms. Hoffinger said at the outset of her opening.
Susan Necheles, one of the Trump Organization’s lawyers, barely mentioned Mr. Trump in the first part of her own opening, choosing instead to argue that Mr. Weisselberg had acted to benefit only himself.
“It started with Allen Weisselberg and it ended with Allen Weisselberg,” Ms. Necheles said, emphasizing that only Mr. Weisselberg was to blame for the misconduct and that only Mr. Weisselberg benefited.
Here is some important context for the case:
- The company and Mr. Weisselberg were charged in 2021 with multiple counts of criminal tax fraud, conspiracy, scheme to defraud and falsifying business records. Late this summer, Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty, and agreed as part of a plea deal to testify at the trial. If the judge on the case, Juan Merchan, finds that he testified truthfully, he will sentence Mr. Weisselberg to five months in jail. Ultimately, with time credited for good behavior, the executive might serve fewer than 100 days behind bars.
- The Trump Organization will not pay more than $1.7 million if found guilty. Though a conviction would hurt its reputation, the company is not likely to be seriously harmed by a conviction.
- But the trial in State Supreme Court is likely to present an embarrassing scene for the former president, pushing to the forefront one of several criminal investigations swirling around him. Mr. Trump, who is not expected to attend the trial, has called the charges a “continuation of the witch hunt that started when I came down the escalator,” referring to the moment in 2015 when he announced his presidential candidacy at Trump Tower.