Prosecutors in New York are reportedly examining cash bonuses amid their investigation into the Trump Organization, as former President Donald Trump's legal team braces for potential impending charges.
Investigators have been examining whether the company failed to appropriately pay taxes on benefits, and they're also looking into cash bonuses, though "it's not clear who received the bonuses or how much they totaled," CNN reported Wednesday. Criminal defense attorney Jeremy Saland explained to CNN that making a tax evasion case stemming from cash bonuses could be difficult due to a likely lack of records, but he explained this could be part of a case establishing a pattern of behavior.
"If it's large enough, it bolsters their case," Saland told CNN. "If it's insignificant, I don't know that I'd go down that road so much, because how are you corroborating that there was this cash transaction? … If it's overwhelming and you have good evidence of it, then it's consistent with [the] theory [of the company playing] fast and loose."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lawyers for the Trump Organization on Monday reportedly met with prosecutors to argue the company shouldn't face criminal charges, and the former president contends the probe is focusing on "things that are standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime." Trump's legal team is expecting that criminal charges will be brought against the company "in the coming days," though they're not expecting charges against Trump himself, CBS News reports.
"They didn't use the word 'fringe benefits' or anything like that," Trump attorney Ronald Fischetti told CBS, "but they alleged improper benefits that were conferred on some of the high-ranking individuals in the Trump Organization."
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
-
Is the US in recession?Today's Big Question ‘Unofficial signals’ are flashing red
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
Trump wants to exert control over federal architectureThe Explainer Beyond his ballroom, Trump has several other architectural plans in mind
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Whistles emerge as Chicago’s tool to fight ICEIN THE SPOTLIGHT As federal agents continue raiding the city, communities have turned to noisemakers to create a warning system
-
Will California’s Proposition 50 kill gerrymandering reform?Talking Points Or is opposing Trump the greater priority for voters?
-
‘The trickle of shutdowns could soon become a flood’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
