Prosecution files criminal charges against Trump Organization for conspiracy to defraud taxes

The Trump Organization and its financial director, Allen Weisselberg, were accused on Thursday of developing

a fraudulent compensation scheme

for the company's

top executives

that lasted 15 years and with which they avoided paying taxes.

The Trump Organization has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include tax fraud and falsification of business records.

"Contrary to what the former director of the company has affirmed today, this is not an 'accepted practice in the business community' nor was it the isolated act of a dishonest employee," said Carey Dunne, assistant prosecutor, in court Thursday. district of Manhattan.

"Instead, it was orchestrated by top executives, who profited themselves financially by getting secret pay raises at the expense of state and federal taxpayers."

Donald Trump would have paid federal taxes only five times in 15 years, according to The New York Times

Sept.

28, 202007: 18

Weisselberg, 73, pleaded not guilty to grand theft and tax fraud charges, among others, after prosecutors accused him of evading taxes on $ 1.7 million of his own income.

Prosecutors said it was

an "orchestrated" plan to compensate executives "off the record" to avoid paying taxes

.

Weisselberg's attorney, Mary Mulligan, stated before the Manhattan court hearing that her client will fight the charges.

 Allen Weisselberg, executive director of the Trump Organization, appears in court in New York on July 1, 2021.

Weisselberg turned himself in to authorities Thursday morning.

[The New York Prosecutor's Office expands investigations into Trump for alleged tax fraud]

A spokesman for the Trump Organization said the allegations were politically motivated and claimed that Weisselberg "is being used by the Manhattan district attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth strategy to harm the former president."

"The district attorney is initiating criminal proceedings involving employee benefits [of the Trump Organization] that neither the IRS nor any other district attorney would think of filing," the spokesperson said.

"This is not justice, it is politics."

Both the Manhattan district attorney and the New York Attorney General's Office obtained the indictments, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on a report of the allegations.

NBC News had already reported that District Attorney Cyrus Vance's office was expected to indict the Trump Organization starting this week.

The charges come amid an investigation Vance conducted into a variety of allegations of financial wrongdoing allegedly committed by former President Donald Trump's company.

According to previous court documents, Vance's office has been investigating

criminal conduct at the Trump Organization such as falsification of business records, insurance fraud and tax fraud.

Then-President-elect Donald Trump and his CFO Allen Weisselberg, in a Jan. 11, 2017, file photo.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that charges would be filed Thursday, including against Weisselberg.

[The New York Prosecutor's Office investigates whether the Trump Organization overstated its assets and asks one of its sons to testify]

In March, NBC News reported that Weisselberg's ex-ex-wife Jennifer Weisselberg had spoken to investigators multiple times and that Vance was investigating whether Trump employees, including the Weisselbergs,

could avoid paying taxes in exchange for fringe benefits, such as an apartment. .

The investigation was allegedly accelerated when Vance's office won a lengthy battle in February to obtain Trump's personal and corporate tax returns and related tax documents.

Last week, a lawyer for the Trumps, Ron Fischetti, called the impending charges "completely outrageous" and said they were being prosecuted because Weisselberg did not cooperate with investigators.

"They could not get him to cooperate because he did not say that Donald Trump had knowledge or any information about the use of cars or an apartment," he said.

With information from NBC News