The Weisselberg Indictment Is Not A "Fringe Benefits" Case (must read)

[Nevilledog]

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Tweet text:
Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw
Exquisitely analyzed piece.

Trump lawyers laid false claim #Weisselberg-#TrumpIndictments were "fringe benefits" case.

Since then, DJT, Eric and Don Jr. have maintained that frame. So has much of the media!

Top #TaxLaw expert demolishes that framing.

The Weisselberg Indictment Is Not A “Fringe Benefits” Case
"The scheme is far different from simple failure to pay taxes on fringe benefits, which is how the indictment has been widely misunderstood, thanks in part to Trump’s defense lawyers’ laying the...
justsecurity.org
9:08 AM · Jul 4, 2021

https://www.justsecurity.org/77331/the-weisselberg-indictment-is-not-a-fringe-benefits-case/

In the days before the July 1, 2021 issuance of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Weisselberg-Trump Organization indictment, public anticipation was positively underwhelming. It would just be a fringe benefits case, we were told – meaning, a dispute, of a picayune sort that almost never yields criminal charges, regarding whether or not an employee’s use of, say, a company car or apartment yielded taxable income, in the face of admitted personal benefit but also with plausible claims of business purpose other than the purely compensatory. Everyone does it, we heard, and it shouldn’t be the basis for a criminal fraud charge. What’s more, this ostensibly would just be a New York State or City income tax issue, not federal, thus limiting the scale and monetary significance of the claimed wrongdoing.

Then the indictment dropped, and it turns out that public expectations could scarcely have fallen further short than they were of the magnitude of what was actually being charged. Let me spell out the particulars under several headings:

1. This is no mere fringe benefits case. It is a straight-out fraud case, claiming that the defendants kept double books: phony ones to show the tax authorities, and accurate ones to be hidden from view. The question of whether a given company apartment or car might in theory (with appropriate supporting facts) have been an excludable fringe benefit turns out to be almost completely irrelevant. A better analogy to what is being charged here is the following: Suppose that your employer pays you monthly, through automatically deposited paychecks that end up being included on your annual W-2. But suppose that each month you could stop by the front office, request an envelope full of cash in unmarked bills, and have your W-2 reduced accordingly. So your true income would be the same as if you hadn’t stopped by, but you’d be reporting less salary. If your employer kept careful records of all the cash it gave you, and also still deducted it all, we would basically have this case. That is far different from simple failure to pay taxes on fringe benefits, which is how the indictment has been widely misunderstood, thanks in part to Trump’s defense lawyers’ laying the groundwork before the charges were made public on Thursday.

2. It is not just a state and local income tax fraud case. It is also – via New York State fraud, conspiracy, and grand larceny statutes – a federal income tax fraud case. The indictment’s first three and longest counts detail a “scheme to defraud” the federal Internal Revenue Service, including through a “conspiracy” with multiple “overt acts,” and the commission of “grand larceny.” In other words, just as the Manhattan DA could indict someone for committing such crimes (within its jurisdiction) against the likes of you or me, so here it has identified the IRS as the main victim of the defendants’ actions. Indeed, the word “federal” appears thirty times in the Manhattan DA’s 24-page charging document.

*snip*

[Shrike47]

1. This is very helpful in understanding the indictment.

[SheltieLover]

2. K&R!

Happy 4th!

[Nevilledog]

3. Same to you, my dear!

[Hoyt]

4. The Complaint against Weisselberg is pretty much a classic failure to report perks as income.

In Weisselberg's case, it is a fraud case because it appears he and a few staffers manipulated the books and payroll.

Would love for it to reach trump, but don't think it will.

[bullimiami]

5. this was probably sop for trump org. wont be surprised if it rolls up virtually everyone.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Whatever financial benefit Weisselberg received, the Trump's benefit was most certainly

much, much larger. Mr. Weisselberg was privvy to the actual financial crimes that the Trump Org (DJT) was committing. His arrangement assured his loyalty as he was incriminating himself. The Trump's benefit was probably in the 100's of millions of $ that was funneled to offshore accounts that Weisselberg blessed as CFO of the organization.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Individuals that direct & allow their companies to do this are anti-government & anti-tax zealots

Corporate entities scheming to short the tax man for profitability because they don't give a damn about the public good.

Why should we be surprised? 4 years of selling out to foreign governments and oligarchs, dismantling government assets and regulations to enhance corporate profitability, scheming to subvert the sovereignty of the United States election system.

These people are all the same! From SCOTUS to Federalist to TFG. SAME!

[Maeve]

8. As someone else pointed out, paying partially "off the books" means the employee owes the company

They have him going along with something he knows is wrong (and illegal) and now he has to stay close to the company because they're in crime together. Oh, it looks like the company is being generous, and only cheating the government, but it's a gangster's trick to pull the employee in deeper.

And speaking of gangsters, remember what put Capone in jail...

[RANDYWILDMAN]

9. Tax fraud from the TRump org, Shocking !

It's like the planned this, with two sets of accounting books and all

[FakeNoose]

10. It's mutual back-scratching

Allen Weisselberg is the top money-man in the company. All the fraud he perpetrated was to benefit the Chump family profits, as well as his own. He didn't just go-along-to-get-along, he CREATED a lot of the fraud that the Chump family has profited from for the last 30+ years.

Don't think for one minute that Chump himself is smart enough to figure this stuff out. He isn't! The shifty greedy characters who work for him (and for his father before him) are the ones who made this all happen. The bank fraud, the money laundering, two sets of books, fake financial documents, the phony "foundation" that got shut down a couple years ago, on and on.

Shady accountants and lawyers are doing all this for Chump, and Weisselberg is the Number One guy.

[mcar]

11. And of course the MSM falls for the RW spin once again

[kentuck]

12. They will repeat this over and over...

...until all their supporters believe it was nothing. Just taking care of his employees. (Tax fraud will never come into the discussion)

[elleng]

13. It is a straight-out fraud case.

[MichMan]

14. Just wondering if elected representatives declare their perks as income on taxes?

It seems that most of them get all kinds of generous benefits not available to average working people.

Perhaps the IRS needs to start investigating the ruling class.

Not disputing that this case includes fraud

[UTUSN]

15. K&R