Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrives for the sentencing hearing of the Trump Organization at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City, U.S. January 13, 2023 - REUTERS
After being found guilty of 15 years of conspiring to deceive tax authorities, a New York judge sentenced Donald Trump’s eponymous real estate company to pay a $1.61 million criminal fine on Friday.
After two Trump Organization affiliates were convicted guilty of 17 felony offenses last month, Justice Juan Merchan of the Manhattan criminal court handed down the sentence, which is the maximum permitted by state law.
Merchan on Tuesday sentenced Allen Weisselberg, who worked for Trump’s family for a half-century and was the company’s former chief financial officer, to five months in jail after he testified as the prosecution’s star witness.
Susan Necheles, one of the defense lawyers, said Trump’s company plans to appeal. No one else was charged.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case, is still conducting a criminal probe into Trump’s business practices.
Joshua Steinglass, one of the prosecutors, appeared to lament the size of the punishment, telling Merchan the penalty was only a “tiny portion” of the Trump Organization’s revenue.