The recent guilty verdict of former President Donald J. Trump’s real estate business business for tax fraud and various other financial crimes reverberated loudly through the news stratosphere today, and now even George Takei is sounding off on the issue.
The Trump Organization was found guilty on all 17 counts it was charged with in a recent trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The company’s illegal scheme included providing executives with secret perks like fancy cars, apartments, and private school tuition, none of which anyone paid taxes on.
Takei, a frequent Trump antagonist over the years, took to Twitter to share his thoughts.
Takei’s take is pretty accurate. While the move may not change the minds of any loyal Trump supporters, the implications the verdict has in the business world are pretty huge. Trump’s business is now known as a felonious enterprise and there’s a good chance it will affect how the organization conducts business, and how banks and other institutions view it moving forward.
Any company that now works with the Trump Organization will be working with a company that was convicted of tax fraud, a scheme to defraud and conspiracy and falsifying business records.
The penalty for the indiscretions are miniscule to the organization (the max penalty is $1.62 million, according to The New York Times), but the conviction could provide fodder to political rivals during Trump’s latest presidential campaign.
The move is also a victory for the newly instated Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg.
“The former president’s companies now stand convicted of crimes,” Mr. Bragg said. “That is consequential. It underscores that in Manhattan we have one standard of justice for all.”
This is by no means Takei’s first foray into Trump hating. Takei, who is Japanese American and spent time in internment camps during World War II, also called out Trump’s racist rhetoric and use of the phrase “Chinese virus” during the height of the COVID pandemic.
“We are chilled by the constant use by the president and his administration of that term,” Takei said. “We have a long history of anti-Asian hatred in this country.” Takei stressed that Trump’s words have real world implications, and now he’s pointing out that works both ways.