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Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A criminal case against the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg is set for trial Oct. 24 after a New York judge Friday denied an effort to dismiss the charges. The Trump Organization and Weisselberg face 15 counts related to an alleged tax scheme, including fraud, conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying records. They were indicted in July of 2021.
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New York Acting Justice Juan Merchan ruled that, evidence presented to a grand jury "was legally sufficient to support the charges in the indictment." The judge also said the proceedings in the case have been properly conducted.
The judge dismissed one of the 15 counts on statute of limitations grounds.
The Trump Organization and Weisselberg accused prosecutors of carrying out a political attack on them. The Trump Organization and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The charges are related to a grand jury investigation into the Trump Organization, the business empire belonging to former President Donald Trump. The criminal action is the first against the Trump Organization by a two-year joint investigation between Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
"Beginning from at least 2005 to on or about June 30, 2021, the defendants and others devised and operated a scheme to defraud federal, New York State, and New York City tax authorities," the indictment said.
The indictment alleged that, "The purpose of the scheme was to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was 'off the books': the beneficiaries of the scheme received substantial portions of their income through indirect and disguised means, with 'compensation that was unreported or misreported by the Trump Corporation or Trump Payroll Corp. to the tax authorities."
