特朗普集团前高管承认逃税
近日，特朗普集团（Trump Organization）前首席财务官艾伦·魏塞尔伯格（Allen Weisselberg）承认了刑事税务诈骗、伪造商业记录等15项指控。
无注释原文：
Allen Weisselberg, Trump Organization financial chief, pleads guilty to tax fraud
The Guardian
Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s company and one of his most trusted executives, pleaded guilty to tax violations on Thursday, further complicating the former president’s legal woes.
Weisselberg, 75, has worked for the Trump family for five decades. He was charged with accepting more than $1.7m in off-the-books compensation from the former president’s company, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition.
Quizzed repeatedly by judge Juan Merchan about whether he and the Trump Organization had committed criminal conduct in relation to the charges, Weisselberg repeated again and again: “Yes, your honor.”
Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 charges and faced a 15-year sentence. Under the agreement, he is expected to serve a five-month prison term at New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail. He will also have to pay back close to $2m in taxes he owed, prosecutors said in court.
The Trump Organization is preparing to go to trial in October, facing similar charges of illicit business practices, and as part of the agreement, Weisselberg has agreed to testify against the company. He has refused to testify against Trump himself.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, said Weisselberg used his position at the Trump Organization to “bilk taxpayers and enrich himself”.
“Instead of paying his fair share like everyone else, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization provide him with a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture – all without paying required taxes.”
Bragg said the plea agreement “directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial against the corporation.
“We look forward to proving our case in court against the Trump Organization,” he said.
Weisselberg’s guilty plea adds to a whirlwind of legal problems now surrounding the former president.
The justice department is investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act by storing top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home. This week, Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani testified before a grand jury in Georgia, where he is a target of a criminal investigation related to efforts to invalidate Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the state. And in September the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection will reconvene its hearings amid charges that Trump incited a mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to delay or stop certification of Joe Biden’s election win.
Seen as one of Trump’s most loyal business associates, Weisselberg was arrested in July 2021. Weisselberg began working for Trump’s father, Fred Trump, in 1973 and no one outside the Trump family knows more about its business. “They are like Batman and Robin,” Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-wife of Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry, told the New York Times.
Prosecutors alleged that the company gave untaxed fringe benefits to senior executives, including Weisselberg, for 15 years. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds.
Under state law, punishment for the most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny, could have carried a penalty as high as 15 years in prison. But the charge carries no mandatory minimum, and most first-time offenders in tax-related cases never end up behind bars.
The tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization are punishable by a fine of double the amount of unpaid taxes, or $250,000, whichever is larger.
Trump has not been charged in the criminal investigation. The Republican has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch-hunt” and has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime.
Last week, Trump sat for a deposition in the parallel civil investigation by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, into allegations that Trump’s company misled lenders and tax authorities about asset values. Trump invoked his fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
Weisselberg said nothing as he left court, offering no reply when a journalist asked him whether he had any message for Trump.
Weisselberg’s lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, said his client pleaded guilty “to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family”.
“We are glad to have this behind him,” the lawyer added.
- ◆ -
注：中文文本为机器翻译仅供参考，并非一一对应
含注释全文：
Allen Weisselberg, Trump Organization financial chief, pleads guilty to tax fraud
The Guardian
Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s company and one of his most trusted executives, pleaded guilty to tax violations on Thursday, further complicating the former president’s legal woes.
唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）公司首席财务官、他最信任的高管之一艾伦·魏塞尔伯格（Allen Weisselberg）周四对税收违法行为表示认罪，使这位前总统的深陷的法律纠纷进一步复杂化。
plead
1）表示“恳求”，英文解释为“If you plead with someone to do something, you ask them in an intense, emotional way to do it.”举个🌰：
The lady pleaded with her daughter to come back home.
那位女士恳求她的女儿回家。
2）表示“（尤指在法庭上）为…辩护；申辩；认（罪）”，英文解释为“to make a statement of what you believe to be true, especially in support of something or someone or when someone has been accused in a law court”举个🌰：
The defendant pleaded not guilty/innocent to robbery with violence.
被告不承认暴力抢劫。
woes
woe /wəʊ/的复数形式woes，表示“麻烦；问题；困难”，英文解释为“the troubles and problems that sb has”举个🌰：
Thanks for listening to my woes.
谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
而woe做不可数名词时，表示“悲伤；悲哀”（extreme sadness），举个🌰：
Her face was lined and full of woe.
她满脸皱纹，一副悲伤的表情。
Weisselberg, 75, has worked for the Trump family for five decades. He was charged with accepting more than $1.7m in off-the-books compensation from the former president’s company, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition.
75岁的魏塞尔伯格已为特朗普家族工作了50年。他被指控从这位前总统的公司接受了超过170万美元的灰色收入，包括租金、车辆费用和学费等未纳税的福利。
off-the-books
表示“账外的，黑市的，暗箱操作的，不经过官方途径的”，英文解释为“in a way that is not officially written down in a person's or company's financial records；removed from an official record, especially as a law”
compensation
compensation /ˌkɒmpɛnˈseɪʃən/ 1）表示“补偿（或赔偿）物；（尤指）赔偿金，补偿金；赔偿”，英文解释为“If something is some compensation for something bad that has happened, it makes you feel better.”举个🌰：
He gained some compensation for her earlier defeat by winning the final open class.
他通过赢得公开赛的决赛获得了对先前失利的一些补偿。
2）表示“报酬（雇员获得的金钱和其他福利的总和）”，英文解释为“the combination of money and other benefits (= rewards) that an employee receives for doing their job”举个🌰：
Annual compensation for our executives includes salary and bonus under our incentive plan.
我们的高级管理人员获得的年度报酬包括工资以及按奖励计划发放的奖金。
perk
1）表示“（因工作而享有的）补贴，津贴，额外待遇”，英文解释为“an advantage or something extra, such as money or goods, that you are given because of your job”举个🌰：
A company car and a mobile phone are some of the perks that come with the job.
这份工作的一些额外待遇包括配备公车和移动电话。
2）表示“好处，有利条件”，英文解释为“an advantage”举个🌰：
Having such easy access to some of the best cinema and theatre is one of the perks of living in Hangzhou.
一些最好的电影院和剧院就近在咫尺，这是在杭州生活所享受的便利之一。
Quizzed repeatedly by judge Juan Merchan about whether he and the Trump Organization had committed criminal conduct in relation to the charges, Weisselberg repeated again and again: “Yes, your honor.”
法官胡安·默坎（Juan Merchan）反复询问他和特朗普公司是否有与指控有关的犯罪行为时，魏塞尔伯格一再重复道：“是的，法官大人。”
quiz
表示“查问，提问”，英文解释为“to ask someone questions about something”举个🌰：
She spent an hour being quizzed by journalists.
她花了1小时时间回答记者的提问。
Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 charges and faced a 15-year sentence. Under the agreement, he is expected to serve a five-month prison term at New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail. He will also have to pay back close to $2m in taxes he owed, prosecutors said in court.
魏塞尔伯格承认了15项指控，面临15年的刑期。根据协议，他预计将在纽约臭名昭著的雷克岛监狱服刑5个月。检察官在法庭上说，他还必须偿还近200万美元的税款。
notorious
表示“臭名昭著的，声名狼藉的”，英文解释为“famous for something bad”举个🌰：
The company is notorious for paying its bills late.
该公司出了名地喜欢拖欠账单。
prosecutor
1) 表示“公诉人；检察官”，英文解释为“a public official who charges sb officially with a crime and prosecutes them in court”，如：the public/state prosecutor 公诉人；州检察官。
2) 表示“原告律师；控方律师”，英文解释为“a lawyer who leads the case against a defendant in court”。
The Trump Organization is preparing to go to trial in October, facing similar charges of illicit business practices, and as part of the agreement, Weisselberg has agreed to testify against the company. He has refused to testify against Trump himself.
特朗普公司将在10月份接受审判，面临类似的非法商业行为指控，作为协议的一部分，魏塞尔伯格同意作证指控该公司。他拒绝作证指控特朗普本人。
illicit
表示“非法的；违禁的；社会不容许的”，英文解释为“illegal or disapproved of by society”如：illicit drugs such as cocaine and cannabis 可卡因和大麻之类的违禁药物。
testify
表示“证明，证实；作证”，英文解释为“to speak seriously about something, especially in a law court, or to give or provide proof”举个🌰：
He testified that he had seen the man leaving the building around the time of the murder.
他作证说，自己看到那人在谋杀发生前后离开了大楼。
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, said Weisselberg used his position at the Trump Organization to “bilk taxpayers and enrich himself”.
曼哈顿地区检察官阿尔文·布拉格（Alvin Bragg）说魏塞尔伯格利用他在特朗普公司的职位“欺骗纳税人并致富”。
attorney
attorney /əˈtɜːnɪ/ 表示“律师”，英文解释为“In the United States, an attorney or attorney-at-law is a lawyer.”比如我们可以说a prosecuting attorney，即“公诉律师”。
📍再来看看牛津词典中归纳的，各种律师的说法：
bilk
表示“诈骗”，英文解释为“to get money from someone unfairly or dishonestly”举个🌰：
He bilked clients out of tens of millions of dollars.
他从客户身上诈骗了几千万元。
🎬电影《银行家》（The Banker）中的台词提到：so they could bilk the bank of $189,000 of commission. 以骗取银行十八万九千美元的佣金。
“Instead of paying his fair share like everyone else, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization provide him with a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture – all without paying required taxes.”
“魏塞尔伯格没有像其他人一样为他应纳税额交税，而是让特朗普公司为他提供免租金公寓、昂贵的汽车、孙子孙女的私立学校学费和新家具——所有这些都没有缴纳所需的税款。”
Bragg said the plea agreement “directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial against the corporation.
布拉格表示，认罪协议“直接将特朗普公司牵连到一系列犯罪活动中，并要求魏塞尔伯格在即将到来的针对该公司的审判中提供重要证词。”
implicate
表示“牵连，涉及”，英文解释为“to show that someone is involved in a crime or partly responsible for something bad that has happened”举个🌰：
Have they any evidence to implicate him in the robbery?
他们有证据表明他涉嫌抢劫案吗？
📍be implicated in表示“牵涉其中的；负有责任的”，英文解释为“If someone or something is implicated in a crime or a bad situation, they are involved in it or responsible for it.”
testimony
表示“证词；证言；口供”，英文解释为“a formal written or spoken statement saying what you know to be true, usually in court”，如：a sworn testimony 宣誓证词。
“We look forward to proving our case in court against the Trump Organization,” he said.
“我们期待在法庭上证明我们对特朗普公司的指控，”他说。
Weisselberg’s guilty plea adds to a whirlwind of legal problems now surrounding the former president.
魏塞尔伯格的认罪加剧了目前围绕这位前总统的一系列法律问题。
whirlwind
whirlwind /ˈwɝːl.wɪnd/ 1）作名词，表示“旋风”，英文解释为“a tall, spinning column of air that moves across the surface of the land or sea.”
2）表示“一片忙乱”，英文解释为“a situation or series of events where a lot of things happen very quickly”
To recover from the divorce, he threw himself into a whirlwind of activities.
为了从离婚中恢复过来，他马不停蹄地投身于一系列的活动。
3）作形容词，表示“（事件）旋风般的，飞快的”，英文解释为“A whirlwind event happens very fast, and often unexpectedly.”举个🌰：
They married three months after they met - it was a real whirlwind romance.
他们认识3个月后就结婚了——真是旋风式的恋爱。
The justice department is investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act by storing top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home. This week, Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani testified before a grand jury in Georgia, where he is a target of a criminal investigation related to efforts to invalidate Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the state. And in September the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection will reconvene its hearings amid charges that Trump incited a mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to delay or stop certification of Joe Biden’s election win.
司法部正在调查特朗普是否违反了《反间谍法》，将绝密文件存放在他在佛罗里达州（Florida）的海湖庄园住宅中。本周，特朗普的前律师鲁迪·朱利安尼（Rudy Giuliani）在佐治亚州（Georgia）的一个大陪审团面前作证。在那个案子中，他是一项刑事调查的目标，该调查与使乔·拜登（Joe Biden）在该州的胜选失效有关。9月，调查1月6日叛乱的众议院委员会将重新召开听证会，指控特朗普煽动暴徒袭击国会大厦，试图推迟或阻止对乔·拜登胜选的认证。
espionage
espionage /ˈespiənɑːʒ/ spy的同义词，表示“谍报活动，间谍行为”，英文解释为“the activity of secretly finding out secret information and giving it to a country’s enemies or a company’s competitors”，如：a campaign of industrial espionage against his main rival 针对他主要竞争对手展开的商业间谍活动。
📍counter-espionage表示“反间谍活动”（secret action taken by a country to prevent an enemy country from finding out its secrets）
🎬电影《藏身之所》（Safe House）中的台词提到：and is wanted for espionage on four continents. 现今在四大洲遭间谍罪通缉。
补充：
📍wanted通常是表示“（因犯罪）被警方通缉的”，英文解释为“being searched for by the police because of a crime”，举个🌰：
He's a wanted man.
他是个通缉犯。
grand jury
表示“（美国）大陪审团”，英文解释为“in the US, a group of people who decide if a person who has been charged with a crime should be given a trial in a law court”
invalidate
1）表示“使无效；使作废”，英文解释为“to officially stop a document, ticket, law, etc. being legally or officially acceptable”
2）表示“证明（观点、论点等）错误”，英文解释为“to prove that an opinion, argument, etc. is wrong”
insurrection
表示“起义，暴动，造反，叛乱”，英文解释为“an organized attempt by a group of people to defeat their government and take control of their country, usually by violence”。
reconvene
reconvene /ˌriː.kənˈviːn/ 表示“重新集合（开会）；重新召集（会议）”，英文解释为“to come together again or to bring a group of people together again for a meeting”举个🌰：
The board will reconvene at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
董事会明天上午10点重新开会。
hearing
表示“审讯；审理；听审；听证会”，英文解释为“an official meeting at which the facts about a crime, complaint, etc. are presented to the person or group of people who will have to decide what action to take”。
incite
表示“鼓动，煽动”，英文解释为“to encourage someone to do or feel something unpleasant or violent”举个🌰：
She was expelled for inciting her classmates to rebel against their teachers.
她因煽动同学反对老师而被开除。
mob
表示“暴民，乱民”，英文解释为“a large, angry crowd, especially one that could easily become violent”。
certification
表示“证明；鉴定”，英文解释为“the act of certifying sth”如：the medical certification of the cause of death 为死因出具医学鉴定。
Seen as one of Trump’s most loyal business associates, Weisselberg was arrested in July 2021. Weisselberg began working for Trump’s father, Fred Trump, in 1973 and no one outside the Trump family knows more about its business. “They are like Batman and Robin,” Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-wife of Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry, told the New York Times.
魏塞尔伯格被视为特朗普最忠诚的商业伙伴之一，于2021年7月被捕。魏塞尔伯格于1973年开始为特朗普的父亲弗雷德·特朗普（Fred Trump）工作，特朗普家族之外没有人比他对公司业务更了解。艾伦·魏塞尔伯格儿子巴里（Barry）的前妻珍妮弗·魏塞尔伯格（Jennifer Weisselberg）告诉《纽约时报》（The New York Times）：“他们就像蝙蝠侠与罗宾。”
associate
作形容词，表示“副的；准的；非正式的”，英文解释为“used in the title of a person whose rank is slightly lower or less complete than the full official position described”如：associate director 副导演。
作名词，表示“朋友；同事；（生意）伙伴”，英文解释为“someone who is closely connected to another person as a companion, friend, or business partner”如：a business associate 生意伙伴。
Prosecutors alleged that the company gave untaxed fringe benefits to senior executives, including Weisselberg, for 15 years. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds.
检察官指控该公司向包括魏塞尔伯格在内的高级管理人员提供了15年的未征税附加福利。仅魏塞尔伯格一家就被指控骗取联邦政府、州和市超过90万美元的未付税款和不应得的退税。
fringe benefit
表示“（工资外非货币形式的）额外补贴，附加福利”，英文解释为“something that you get for working, in addition to your pay, that is not in the form of money”举个🌰：
Fringe benefits include a company car and free health insurance.
附加福利包括公司用车和免费健康保险。
defraud
表示“骗取，诈取（…的钱财）”，英文解释为“If someone defrauds you, they take something away from you or stop you from getting what belongs to you by means of tricks and lies.”举个🌰：
They were accused of defrauding the company.
他们被控诈骗该公司。
🎬电影《大空头》（The Big Short）中的台词提到：We didn't defraud the American people and prey on thier dreams of owning a home. 我们并没有欺诈美国老百姓，也没有利用他们的买房梦。
undeserved
表示“（奖、罚等）不该受的，不应得的”，英文解释为“that someone has not earned or should not have; that someone does not deserve”举个🌰：
Librarians have an undeserved reputation for timidity.
图书馆员胆怯的说法完全是无稽之谈。
Under state law, punishment for the most serious charge against Weisselberg, grand larceny, could have carried a penalty as high as 15 years in prison. But the charge carries no mandatory minimum, and most first-time offenders in tax-related cases never end up behind bars.
根据州法律，对魏塞尔伯格最严重的指控——重大盗窃罪——的判罚可能高达15年监禁。但该指控没有法定的最低限度，而且大多数涉税案件的初犯都不会锒铛入狱。
larceny
larceny /ˈlɑː.sən.i/ 表示“盗窃罪；（尤指美国的非入室）偷盗，盗窃”，英文解释为“stealing, especially (in the US) the crime of taking something that does not belong to you, without illegally entering a building to do so”
behind bars
behind bars表示“蹲班房；被监禁；坐牢”，实际上就等于in prison，在监狱里，举个🌰：
He's spent most of his life behind bars. 他一生中大部分时间是在监狱里度过的。
补充：
📍the Bar表示“（能出席高级法庭的）大律师”(lawyers who are allowed to argue a case in a higher court），也可以指“律师界，司法界，法律界”（all lawyers thought of as a group）。
短语：
📍be called to the Bar表示“取得（出席高级法庭的）大律师资格，成为大律师”（to gain a qualification as a lawyer who can argue a case in a higher court）
The tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization are punishable by a fine of double the amount of unpaid taxes, or $250,000, whichever is larger.
对特朗普公司的税务欺诈指控将被处以未付税款两倍或250,000美元的罚款，以数额较大的为准。
Trump has not been charged in the criminal investigation. The Republican has decried the New York investigations as a “political witch-hunt” and has said his company’s actions were standard practice in the real estate business and in no way a crime.
在这次刑事调查中特朗普没有被指控。这位共和党人谴责纽约的调查是“政治迫害”，并表示他的公司的行为是房地产行业的标准做法，绝不是犯罪。
decry
表示“（公开）谴责；（强烈）批评”，英文解释为“to strongly criticize sb/sth, especially publicly”举个🌰：
The measures were decried as useless.
这些措施受到指责，说是不起作用。
witch hunt
表示“对反对派的搜捕；政治迫害”，英文解释为“an attempt to find and punish people whose opinions are unpopular and who are said to be a danger to society”。
Last week, Trump sat for a deposition in the parallel civil investigation by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, into allegations that Trump’s company misled lenders and tax authorities about asset values. Trump invoked his fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
上周，特朗普在纽约总检察长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯（Letitia Jame）的民事平行调查中出庭作证。该调查指控特朗普的公司在资产价值方面误导了贷方和税务机关。特朗普援引第五修正案400多次以避免自证其罪。
deposition
deposition表示“证言；书面证词”，英文解释为“a formal written statement made or used in a law court”举个🌰：
Before the court case, we had to file/give a deposition.
开庭之前我们必须提供书面证词。
区分：
📍deposit表示“（尤指银行账户的）存款”，英文解释为“a payment, especially into a bank account”，也可以表示“预付款，定金”，英文解释为“an amount of money that you pay as the first part of the total payment for something”。
invoke
表示“援引，借助（法律）；诉诸（法律、规定等）”，英文解释为“if you invoke a law, rule etc, you say that you are doing something because the law allows or forces you to”举个🌰：
The judge invoked an international law that protects refugees.
法官援用了一项保护难民的国际法律。
amendment
表示“修正案”，英文解释为“An amendment is a section that is added to a law or rule in order to change it.”
self-incrimination
表示“自证有罪”，英文解释为“saying or doing something that shows that you are guilty of a crime”举个🌰：
A witness can legally refuse to give evidence to avoid self-incrimination.
证人可以合法拒绝作证，以避免自证其罪。
Weisselberg said nothing as he left court, offering no reply when a journalist asked him whether he had any message for Trump.
魏塞尔伯格离开法庭时什么也没说，当一名记者问他是否有想对特朗普说的话时，他没有回答。
Weisselberg’s lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, said his client pleaded guilty “to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family”.
魏塞尔伯格的律师尼古拉斯·格拉万特（Nicholas Gravante）表示，他的委托人认罪“是为了结束此案以及它给他和他的家人带来的长达数年的法律和个人噩梦”。
“We are glad to have this behind him,” the lawyer added.
“我们很高兴这件事已经过去了，”律师补充道。
- 今日盘点 -
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hearing
incite
mob
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associate
fringe benefit
defraud
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behind bars
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2015年2月8日
2022年8月19日
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