The sweeping tax-fraud indictment unsealed on Thursday against Donald Trump¡¯s longtime accountant Allen Weisselberg threatens the 73-year-old executive with years in prison and puts heavy pressure on him to implicate the former U.S. president.
Prosecutors allege that Weisselberg, the Trump Organization¡¯s chief financial officer, evaded more than $900,000 in taxes by taking part of his annual pay in benefits including apartments, luxury cars and a cash bonus at the holidays, described in financial records as ¡°holiday entertainment.¡±
Judges are often reluctant to sentence elderly defendants with no prior record to prison time, said Ethan Greenberg, a retired New York judge who is now a defense lawyer. But the indictment ¡ª detailing a deliberate scheme to avoid taxes on $1.7 million in income over 16 years ¡ª ¡°convinces me, and should convince Weisselberg, that a substantial prison sentence is possible,¡± Greenberg said.
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