Donald Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, was found guilty of financial and tax fraud on Tuesday after a trial in New York in which the former Republican president was not convicted, AFP comments.

It is the first time the American businessman’s family group, which includes golf clubs, luxury hotels and real estate, has been criminally convicted, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

Even if he was not sued personally, and if the sanction received by the group, a fine of $1.5 million, is relatively small compared to its size, for the former president (2017-2021), now the official candidate, it is judicial vice versa for the 2024 Republican nomination.

Donald Trump enters the race in a worse position than he hoped, weakened by disappointing results for the Republicans he supported in the midterm elections, while one of his potential rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was triumphantly re-elected.

A Manhattan jury, which retired on Monday after more than a month of hearings, “found the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation guilty on all counts,” a total of 17, added prosecutor Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

He will be sentenced on January 13, 2023, his office added.

The two companies were on trial for tax evasion and falsifying accounting, including for concealing from tax authorities financial compensation given to some executives, including its former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty.

“For 13 years, the Trump Organization and the Trump Payroll Corporation evaded the law by giving some executives generous benefits and bonuses, hiding those benefits from the IRS to avoid paying taxes,” Alvin Bragg added, referring to “a case of greed and deceit.”

Since the trial opened in late October, Donald Trump has condemned the Democratic-led “witch hunt,” even though he was not personally targeted.

“We disagree with this verdict and will appeal,” Trump Organization lawyer Susan Necheles said in a statement sent to AFP.

“Weiselberg testified under oath that he +betrayed+ the trust placed in him by the company and that he always acted +only+ for +his own +personal gain+ and out of +personal greed,” the organization’s spokeswoman claimed.

One of the real estate mogul’s most loyal employees, Allen Weisselberg, 75, pleaded guilty to all 15 counts in a plea deal.

He testified in court that he admitted receiving benefits in kind: an apartment in an upscale Manhattan neighborhood, two Mercedes leases for himself and his wife, or cash for vacations.

Donald Trump is involved in several lawsuits, but no charges have been brought against him so far.

Three days after announcing his 2024 bid in mid-November, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith to take over two ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigations: one into the former White House leader’s attempts to sway the 2020 year. presidential results, the other concerned the management of presidential archives.

From October 2023, Donald Trump will also appear in New York, this time in plainclothes, along with his three children, accused, like them, of tax fraud at the Trump Organization.

In this case, New York State Attorney General Letitia James accuses the Republican businessman and his children of “deliberately” manipulating the value of the group’s assets in order to obtain better loans from banks or lower taxes.

She demands compensation from the state in the amount of 250 million dollars, as well as a ban on managing companies for the ex-president and his close relatives.