Things Looking Grim For Trump Organization: U.S. Legal Experts

U.S. legal experts are saying Friday The Trump Organization is in "serious jeopardy" and appears to have little if no legal defense against charges laid late this week.

"Obviously, prosecutors have to prove everything...but some of the things in the indictment - there's just no legal defense for it," taxation professor at New York University law school Daniel Shaviro told NBC Friday.

The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg have been indicted on 15 counts of scheming to defraud, tax fraud and falsifying records. In addition, Weisselberg was charged with one count of grand larceny. Prosecutors say he used his position to get out of paying taxes on $1.7 million in income. Those payments were made by checks from former President Donald Trump's account signed by Trump himself, and later from the Donald J. Trump revocable trust, the indictment said.

Both Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Trump, the beneficial owner of The Trump Organization, has not been charged. Trump has repeatedly called all investigations into him as "witch hunts" that are "rude, nasty and biased." He didn't respond to questions about the New York indictments.

Political experts told the U.K.'s Sky News Friday that the charges and ensuing trial will almost certainly derail plans for the former president's plan to run for the White House in 2024.

However, a former federal prosecutor doesn't expect any more charges. Daniel Goldman, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who also served as general counsel for the House Intelligence Committee during the first Trump impeachment, played down the chances for further charges during an appearance on MSNBC.

However, earlier this week, and before the indictments were delivered, The Wall Street Journal suggested "if prosecutors could show The Trump Organization and its executives systematically avoided paying taxes, they could file more serious charges alleging a scheme, according to lawyers."

Meanwhile, one of The Trump Organization's attorneys, Ron Fischetti, said in a statement: "After years of investigation and the collection of millions of documents and devoting the resources of dozens of prosecutors and outside consultants, this is all they have? In my 50 years of practice, I have never seen this office bring a case like this and, quite frankly, I am astonished,"

But Shaviro said on NBC it would have been more astonishing if the Manhattan district attorney's office had looked the other way. "This is a lot clearer than I would have expected," he said.

The company was "paying tuition for (Weisselberg's) grandson. That's kind of difficult to explain as a legitimate business expense," Shaviro said.

The indictment said the company kept two sets of books - a private one that counted Weisselberg's apartment and cars as part of his $940,000-a-year compensation, and another that didn't, allowing him to pay taxes on less income. "I don't see how you don't charge this," Shaviro said.

Beverly Moran, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, called the two sets of books "a red flag." "Not only is there hands-on involvement, there's clear knowledge" that this was compensation, Moran said. "He should know as chief financial officer that compensation is taxable."

Cono R. Namorato, a former assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's tax division during the Obama administration, said the indictment showed Weisselberg "knew what he was doing and knew it was wrong."

"There are a lot of commenters out there from Trump's team saying that this is not a case the Department of Justice would bring. This is a case I would have authorized," Namorato said. "He was clearly a tax-conscious and tax-motivated individual."

He said that the "two sets of books is a classic indication of an overt act of evasion," and that prosecutors' claim that Weisselberg falsely claimed to be living in Long Island to avoid paying taxes in New York City looks almost like "a slam dunk case." "There's no doubt they know where he was living," Namorato said.

Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst for NBC News and a former federal prosecutor, said the length of the scheme shows Weisselberg and others "were running a financially corrupt organization." He said they did nothing to address the tax shortfall even when they knew they were being investigated.

"The indictment says the scheme began in 2005, and they're charged through yesterday," Kirschner said. "They were scheming and defrauding right through yesterday."

He predicted the case will lead to more indictments, and possibly the demise of the Trump Organization. "If the Trump Organization is convicted, banks will not loan it money," he said.