Former President Donald Trump’s family company—notorious for stiffing contractors and dodging bills—has paid the $1.6 million fine it received for its tax fraud conviction in December.
The New York County Clerk received the payment in two separate checks on Jan. 24, according to a clerk who confirmed matter-of-factly that the checks didn’t bounce.
In recent days, according to a court spokesman, the clerk’s office notified Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who sentenced the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation in January to the maximum financial penalty allowed by the state.
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The companies, which are part of the overall Trump Organization, were convicted in early December by a New York jury that was deeply offended at the way Trump’s businesses cooked the books to shower top executives with untaxed benefits.
More than half a dozen executives had huge sums of their salary diverted to be paid as so-called “independent contractors,” allowing them to skirt taxes. Meanwhile, chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and chief operating officer Matthew Calamari artificially lowered their taxed salaries to instead cover luxury corporate apartments and other perks. Weisselberg is now serving time at the dreaded Rikers Island jail.
However, The Trump Organization remains in hot water. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit to kill the corporation and seize its assets for defrauding banks, a case that’s set for trial in October. Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. currently has a similar grand jury investigation that seeks to indict Trump himself.
