特朗普公司税务欺诈罪名成立

Georgia voters kept their senator last night.

乔治亚州选民昨晚保住了他们的参议员。

Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker.

民主党人拉斐尔·沃诺克击败了共和党人赫歇尔·沃克。

Warnock is the first Black candidate to win a full term in the Senate representing Georgia.

沃诺克是代表乔治亚州赢得参议院完整任期的首位黑人候选人。

Now, when you think about this race, think 51-49 - 51% to 49% is roughly the vote in that runoff election.

现在，当你想到这场竞选，51比49，51%对49%是这场决选的粗略投票结果。

And 51 to 49 will now be the divide in the Senate.

参议院目前的票数是51票对49票。

Democrats will control one more seat than they did before the midterm elections.

民主党将比中期选举前多控制一个参议院席位。

This is a blow to Donald Trump's Republican Party.

这对唐纳德·特朗普所在的共和党是一个打击。

Walker is the latest of many Trump-endorsed candidates to lose a high-profile race.

特朗普支持的许多候选人都在备受瞩目的竞选中落选了，而沃克是最近落选的一员。

The former president also lost in court yesterday, or at least his company did.

这位前总统昨天在法庭上还败诉了，最起码是他的公司败诉了。

A New York jury found the Trump Organization guilty of schemes to avoid paying taxes.

纽约陪审团裁定特朗普集团预谋逃税罪名成立。

NPR's Andrea Bernstein has been covering this trial. Andrea, good morning.

NPR新闻的安德里亚·伯恩斯坦将对这次审判进行报道。安德里亚，早上好。

Good morning.

早上好。

Was there any doubt about this verdict?

对这个判决有什么疑问吗?

There was. So last summer, Trump's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty to 15 felonies for this persistent pattern of fraud.

有疑问。去年夏天，特朗普的前首席财务长艾伦·韦塞尔伯格承认犯了15项重罪，承认了这种持续的欺诈模式。

But the question was - was the Trump Corporation legally liable?

但问题是，特朗普公司是否负有法律责任?

What the jury had to decide was whether Weisselberg committed his crimes, quote, "in behalf of the company."

陪审团必须裁定韦塞尔伯格是否“代表特朗普公司”犯罪。

All through the trial, Trump's lawyers argued that Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.

在整个审判过程中，特朗普的律师都辩称，韦塞尔伯格是为了他自己才这么做的。

They kept repeating that.

他们一直在重申这个观点。

After a day and a half of deliberation yesterday afternoon, the jury sent out a note it had reached a verdict.

经过昨天下午一天半的审议，陪审团发出了一份裁决通知。

The forewoman stood up.

女陪审长站了起来。

The judge's clerk asked, what say you?

法官的书记员问，你怎么说?

And there it was - guilty of scheme to defraud, guilty of conspiracy, guilty of criminal tax fraud in the first degree, guilty of falsifying business records, 17 counts in all.

事实就是如此--犯有预谋欺诈罪，共谋罪，一级税务欺诈刑事罪，伪造商业记录罪，共计17项罪名。

OK, falsified business records - that's the heart of this.

好，伪造商业记录，这是这个案子的核心。

What does that mean in this case, though?

在这个案子中，这意味着什么呢?

This was a long-running scheme to pay high-level employees not only paychecks but also with untaxed items, like Mercedes-Benzes and high-end electronics.

这是一项存在许久的谋划，不仅向高级别员工支付薪水，还为其支付如奔驰跑车和高端电子产品等免税物品。

Donald Trump personally signed a lease for Weisselberg's luxury apartment. But the company's rent payments were hidden from the IRS.

唐纳德·特朗普亲自为韦塞尔伯格的豪华公寓签了租约。但该公司的租金支出向美国国税局隐瞒了。

Donald Trump also personally signed checks for Weisselberg's grandchildren's private school tuition, which were then, quote, "backed out" of Weisselberg's paycheck.

唐纳德·特朗普还亲自为韦塞尔伯格开了支票，用于其孙辈的私立学校学费，这是从韦塞尔伯格薪水中“扣除”的一部分。

That's saved Weisselberg tax payments, and it saved the company.

这省了韦塞尔伯格的税款，也省了公司的税款。

This scheme of the Trump company lying and cheating the government lasted through 2018, when Trump himself oversaw the U.S. Treasury.

特朗普公司欺瞒政府的谋划一直持续到2018年，当时特朗普亲自监督美国财政部。