The Trump Organization faces a conviction for criminal tax fraud

Two Trump Organization companies are scheduled to be sentenced Friday after a jury last month unanimously found them guilty guilty on 17 counts of tax fraud.

Executives at two companies, called Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, illegally reduced payroll obligations through a variety of schemes, including providing executives with tax-free bonuses and high-end benefits worth millions.

The maximum penalty the company faces is $1.6 million.

The company’s former longtime CFO, Allen Weiselberg, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months at Rikers Island prison in New York. Weiselberg pleaded guilty in August and testified against the company as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Former President Donald Trump has not been charged in the case, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Trump remains under investigation.

Weiselberg’s three days of testimony included detailed descriptions of several methods used by the company and its executives to evade taxes. He also said that Trump and his two children played a role by signing the checks in some of the schemes, although he denied that they authorized or participated in the fraud. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during the trial that the evidence and Weiselberg’s testimony showed that Trump “clearly authorized the tax fraud.”

Lawyers said Trump had no knowledge of the schemes being played out on his floor, while prosecutors said he signed off on them.

This was announced by the lawyers of Trump and his company were “betrayed” Weisselberg, repeatedly saying, “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.”