Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Tax fraud verdict again exposes illusion of Trump the master businessman.

The former president can add tax fraud to his accomplishments after his company was convicted of a 15-year criminal scheme.
When sorrows come, Shakespeare observed, they come not single spies, but in battalions. The same goes for former US president Donald Trump’s legal troubles.

The latest trouble for Trump strikes at the heart of his identity as a wealthy businessman who wrote the bestselling The Art of the Deal. On Tuesday his property company was convicted of a 15-year criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities.

“Add tax fraud to the long list of Trump’s accomplishments,” tweeted Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee.

The case centered on charges that the Trump Organization, which operates hotels, golf courses and other assets around the world, paid personal expenses like free rent and car leases for top executives without reporting the income, and paid them bonuses as if they were independent contractors.

Trump himself was not charged but prosecutors alleged that he “knew exactly what was going on”. During his closing argument, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass showed jurors a lease Trump signed for a company-paid apartment and a memo Trump initialed authorising a pay cut for another executive who got perks.

“Mr Trump is explicitly sanctioning tax fraud,” Steinglass argued.

In a normal political universe, such a revelation would sink Trump’s hopes of a White House comeback in 2024. But given that he once boasted he could shoot someone in the middle of New York’s Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes, explicitly sanctioning tax fraud might not quite cut it.

Indeed, as comedian Dave Chappelle noted in a recent Saturday Night Live monologue, Trump has turned his ability to bend and break rules into a political virtue. “He said, ‘I know the system is rigged because I use it’.” When Hillary Clinton accused him of not paying taxes, Trump retorted: “That makes me smart.”

In Chappelle’s view, this rare willingness to expose what goes on behind the doors of the rich man’s club endeared Trump to working-class voters in 2016. The implication is that you would do it too, if you could, so good on him.

But six years later, the political landscape is different and the act is looking tired to many, even – increasingly – in his own party. No previous former US president, and no previous presidential candidate, has faced such a mountain of allegations and investigations.

The Trump Organization also separately faces a fraud lawsuit brought by New York state attorney general Letitia James. She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Today’s guilty verdict against the Trump Organization shows that we will hold individuals and organizations accountable when they violate our laws to line their pockets.”

Trump himself is being investigated by the justice department over his handling of sensitive government documents after he left office in January 2021 and his attempts to overturn the November 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

A prosecutor in Georgia is scrutinising Trump and his allies over an attempt to subvert democracy in that state. Last month the US supreme court cleared the way for the handover of the former president’s tax returns to a congressional committee.

In the attrition of legal trench warfare, these cases may be gradually wearing down Trump’s political resilience, especially combined with three successive elections that suggest he more of a loser than a winner.

His winning argument in 2016 was that, having cultivated the image of a successful businessman on his reality TV show The Apprentice, he could now bring the same acumen to governing the country. And in a sense, he did: with fraud, deceit and contempt for the rule of law.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×