Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud trial heads to closing arguments

NEW YORK — Closing arguments to the jury by prosecution and defence lawyers began Thursday in the criminal tax fraud trial of former President Donald Trump’s real estate company, which is accused of running a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities.

The defence rested its case on Monday in a New York state court in Manhattan, having called just two witnesses, after prosecutors presented testimony from five people including star witness Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer.

Prosecutors have accused the company, which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world, of paying the personal expenses of some executives without reporting the income, and compensating them as if they were independent contractors.

The company, which has pleaded not guilty, could be fined as much as $1.6 million if convicted on all nine counts it faces. Trump, who announced this month he will again seek the presidency in 2024, has not been charged in the case.

Defence lawyers representing the two Trump Organization units charged in the case were due to make closing arguments to the 12-member jury, followed by prosecutors, whose presentation was due to start in the afternoon and finish on Friday. The jury is set to begin deliberating on Monday after receiving instructions on the law from Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding in the case. The trial began in October.

The Trump Organization has sought to shift the blame to Weisselberg, who has pleaded guilty to tax fraud and other charges, and Donald Bender, an outside accountant who it maintains should have blown the whistle on Weisselberg.