Trump's company sentenced to pay $1.61 mln penalty for tax fraud

WASHINGTON: New York judge on Friday sentenced Donald Trump's namesake real estate company to pay a maximum $1.61 million criminal penalty after it was convicted of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years.

Justice Juan Merchan of the Manhattan criminal court imposed the sentence after jurors found two Trump Organization affiliates guilty of 17 criminal charges last month.

Merchan on Tuesday sentenced Allen Weisselberg, who worked for Trump's family for a half-century and was the company's former chief financial officer, to five months in jail after he testified as the prosecution's star witness. Susan Necheles, one of the defense lawyers, said Trump's company plans to appeal.

No one else was charged or faces jail time in the case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which brought the case, is still conducting a criminal probe into Trump's business practices.

"While corporations can't serve jail time, this consequential conviction and sentencing serves as a reminder to corporations and executives that you cannot defraud tax authorities and get away with it," Bragg said in a statement.