By Summer Concepcion -
NBC News
The jury is set to begin deliberations Monday in the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization, which is accused of orchestrating a 15-year scheme to compensate top executives at former President Donald Trump's company off official records.
The deliberations come after the prosecution and defense presented their closing arguments last week.
The 15-count indictment charges the company and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with conspiracy to defraud, tax fraud and falsification of records.
Weisselberg was also charged with grand theft.
Prosecutors say he used his charge to avoid paying taxes on an income of more than $1.7 million.
The case is being argued in the state Supreme Court, New York's highest trial court.
An NYPD car waits at Trump Tower on October 24, 2022.Getty Images
Lawyers for the Trump Organization laid out their arguments that the prosecution's star witness in the criminal trial, Weisselberg, committed his crimes to benefit himself.
The defense argued that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did so on behalf of the company.
“We are here today for one reason and one reason only, because of Allen Weisselberg's greed,” defense attorney Susan Necheles said Thursday.
She added that Weisselberg "wanted a deal with the government because he knew he had done something wrong and was afraid of a long prison sentence."
[Trump's taxes already in the hands of House Democrats after court battle]
Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, agreed to testify in exchange for five months in prison.
The former CFO received $1.76 million in
"indirect employee compensation"
through the scheme, including a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture, prosecutors said.
Other executives were compensated with similar benefits, they said, and were paid bonuses as independent contractors, saving the company payroll taxes.
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Prosecutors focused on the former president himself during closing arguments, marking a notable shift in the weeks-long trial that focused heavily on Weisselberg and other senior non-Trump family members.
The former president, who announced his 2024 presidential candidacy last month, has not been charged with any crime.
“Donald Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud.
That's what this document shows," Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass told jurors in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday.
"This whole narrative that Donald Trump is blissfully ignorant is just not true
. "
Defense lawyers strongly objected to the prosecution's spotlight on Trump, which came after lawyers for Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. also invoked the former president's name repeatedly while arguing he was unaware of any schemes. prosecutor or the crimes Weisselberg admitted to.
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Michael van der Veen, who is representing Trump Payroll Corp. in the case, asked the judge for a mistrial, but the motion was denied by Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
“I don't think it's necessary to declare a mistrial, nor do I think it's even an idea,” he said.
Trump has publicly lashed out at the investigation into his company as a politically motivated "witch hunt."
The former president's company could incur fines of up to $1.6 million if he is found guilty on all counts.
A conviction could also impede the company's ability to obtain financing in the future, experts have said.