REUTERS/Carlo Allegri//File Photo
- Trump personally signed CFO Allen Weisselberg's children's tuition checks, NY prosecutors alleged.
- They said the practice went on from 2012 through 2017 and that Weisselberg did not report the "indirect compensation" in his taxes.
- Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were charged with 15 felony counts on Thursday.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump personally signed the tuition checks for Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg's children, Manhattan prosecutors alleged in a 25-page indictment charging Weisselberg and the Trump Org. with 15 felony counts on Thursday.
According to the document, one of Weisselberg's children started attending a Manhattan private school in 2012, and another one of his kids started attending the same school in 2014. Prosecutors said that from 2012 to 2017, "Trump Corporation personnel, including Weisselberg, arranged for tuition expenses for Weisselberg's family members to be paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by Donald J. Trump, and later drawn on the account of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, dated April 7, 2017."
The indictment went on to say that although the tuition expenses for the Weisselberg children constituted taxable income and were part of his annual compensation in internal records, the "indirect compensation in the form of tuition payments was not included on Weisselberg's W-2 forms" or reported to federal, state, or local tax authorities, "and no income taxes were withheld by the corporate defendants in connection with the tuition payments."
Thursday's indictment marks the first wave of charges amid a three-year investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office into whether the Trump Organization violated state laws and engaged in financial fraud.
Prosecutors accused Weisselberg and the Trump Organization of the following:
- Scheme to defraud in the first degree.
- Conspiracy in the fourth degree.
- Grand larceny in the second degree.
- Four counts of criminal tax fraud in the third degree.
- Four counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree.
- Four counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Carey Dunne, one of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s top deputies, said in court Thursday that the alleged criminal conduct was carried out as part of a "sweeping and audacious payment scheme" and that Weisselberg personally did not pay taxes on $1.7 million of his income dating back to March 2005.
Weisselberg and the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Liz Harrington, a spokesperson for Trump, said in a statement after the indictment was unsealed that prosecutors were trying to "harass everyone" connected to the former president and that the charges were part of a political vendetta.
Dunne pushed back on the notion that the investigation was politicized, telling the judge during Thursday's arraignment that the grand jury that brought the indictment was unbiased and had no skin in the game.
"There is no clearer example of a company that should be held to account," he said.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
