The firm faces “a host of intangibles,” said Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace University’s law school. “The parent company, as a felon, could be barred from having contracts with government agencies, and it could make it more difficult to do business with banks,” Gershman said in an interview before the verdict. “This is a big deal.”

The verdict is the culmination of a three-year investigation of Trump and his business practices by the DA’s office and New York Attorney General Letitia James. It was the only criminal case to stem from the investigation. 

But the probe isn’t over. On Monday, Bragg announced that he had hired Matthew Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official with a record of challenging Trump and his firm, to focus on the office’s most important investigations.

Trump’s Perils
Meanwhile James is pursuing a $250 million civil suit against the Trump Organization. She claims Trump and three of his children inflated the value of the firm’s assets and is seeking penalties including a permanent ban on the four running companies in the state—even as Trump faces the probes over the classified documents and the election.

Trump has called the cases and investigations baseless political vendettas. 

Prosecutors argued that Weisselberg and Trump Organization Controller Jeffrey McConney were “high managerial agents” who acted on behalf of the companies. The defense contended that the executives cheated for their own enrichment alone and kept the two business units, Trump and his family in the dark. 

The trial provided a rare glimpse of the inner workings of Trump’s closely held company. 

The jurors saw how Weisselberg and other executives, including the firm’s top lawyer and chief operating officer, got significant chunks of their annual pay as untaxed fringe benefits. Prosecutors said the businesses profited from the scheme, which lowered their payroll tax costs and saved on Medicare taxes. McConney testified that the practices were in place until Trump became president in 2017.

The prosecution called five witnesses, including Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to skirting taxes on about $1.76 million in perks. McConney also testified for Bragg’s office, under a grant of immunity, though he was ultimately declared a hostile witness after being evasive on the stand. 

The Trump companies called two witnesses, including an outside accountant they blamed for failing to detect the fraud. 

Betraying the Trumps
During his testimony, Weisselberg told the jury that Trump approved his salary and annual bonuses but wasn’t aware of how his income was reported to tax authorities. McConney described the unusual pay practices, including giving sizable Christmas bonuses to executives by calling them independent contractors, paid through a myriad of subsidiaries under the Trump Organization. 

In their closing arguments on Dec. 1, defense lawyers for the two companies told the jury that Weisselberg had betrayed the Trumps. In a hearing without the jury, prosecutors told New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan that line of argument had opened the door to discussing whether Trump was aware of the scheme. The judge agreed.