美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Trump Organization's former CFO is expected to admit to 15 felonies

The Trump¹ Organization's former CFO is expected to admit to 15 felonies

Transcript²

Longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to a tax fraud scheme in New York.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A longtime executive at the Trump Organization is expected to plead guilty to tax fraud in Manhattan criminal court today.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That would make Allen Weisselberg the latest Trump ally to be convicted at trial or plead guilty to a felony. He worked for Donald Trump long before he ran for president.

INSKEEP: NPR's Andrea Bernstein is here to explain. Good morning.

ANDREA BERNSTEIN, BYLINE³: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What has Weisselberg done for Trump over the years?

BERNSTEIN: So Allen Weisselberg is the closest any human being can come to being the physical embodiment of Trump's business. He's worked for the Trumps⁴ since the 1970s, when Donald Trump's father, Fred, was renting apartments in Brooklyn. Weisselberg really knows the ins and outs of the company better than anyone, excepting maybe Donald Trump. And as of today, if the plea deal is accepted, Weisselberg will be the highest-level Trump Organization official to admit to a felony.

INSKEEP: Well, I'm just thinking about this. When you admit to a felony, you also have to state in court exactly what you did. What is he expected to say?

BERNSTEIN: So we don't know exactly until the hearing concludes. But Weisselberg was charged with 15 felonies for carrying out a more than 15-year scheme to cheat taxpayers⁵ by taking part of his salary through untaxed benefits, like a luxury apartment, private school tuition for his grandchildren and Mercedes-Benzes for him and his wife. The prosecutors⁶ say he hid nearly $2 million of income in this way. The crimes he was charged with include fraud, conspiracy⁷ and grand larceny⁸.

INSKEEP: And why is he admitting to all of this now?

BERNSTEIN: So last week, the judge in the case denied Weisselberg and the Trump Organization's motions to dismiss the case. That's often a time when these plea deals happen.

INSKEEP: Well, what is known about the terms? Like, what is he getting in return in terms of a reduced sentence or whatever else?

BERNSTEIN: So in this case, it looks like Weisselberg, who's in his 70s, will say he committed crimes and agreed to a jail sentence of just months. Weisselberg may cooperate with prosecutors in some way. But it won't be certain exactly how that will work until the judge OKs the deal. What we very much know is that Weisselberg has worked hard not to do anything that could put him at odds⁹ with Donald Trump.

INSKEEP: Although, if he is needing to cooperate as part of a deal, that means aiming, presumably, at his boss. Investigators¹⁰ tend to go up the chain rather than down the chain. So what kind of cooperation could he potentially provide?

BERNSTEIN: Well, it's complicated. But he can testify at a potential trial of Donald Trump's company. As of now, because Donald Trump's business is under criminal indictment¹¹ in the same scheme and is not pleading guilty, there's a trial set for October 24. And under New York law, if top executives have committed crimes, that's imputed¹² to the corporation. So if Weisselberg pleads guilty, his testimony¹³ could help make a case against Trump's company. But that might not necessarily implicate¹⁴ Donald Trump.

INSKEEP: How does this case fit in with the wider docket of former Trump employees?

BERNSTEIN: Weisselberg isn't even the first top Trump executive to plead guilty to felonies. There was, for example, Michael Cohen, the former counsel and VP there. There was Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who was convicted of tax fraud, money laundering¹⁵ and conspiracy against the United States. Political adviser¹⁶ Roger Stone, convicted of lying to Congress. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, convicted of lying to the FBI. And just this summer, adviser Steve Bannon, convicted of contempt of Congress. Manafort, Stone and Flynn were pardoned by Trump. But all these aides were convicted of felonies. Weisselberg is just the latest. And though Trump is under investigation¹⁷, he said he's done nothing wrong. And he says the investigations¹⁸ are politically motivated, quote, "witch hunts."

INSKEEP: NPR's Andrea Bernstein. Thanks.

BERNSTEIN: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF FAZER'S "HARLESDEN")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 trumps   

abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• On the day of the match the team turned up trumps. 比赛那天该队出乎意料地获得胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Every time John is late getting home he trumps up some new excuse. 每次约翰晚回家都会编造个新借口。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

8 larceny   

n.盗窃（罪）

参考例句：

• The man was put in jail for grand larceny.人因重大盗窃案而被监禁。
• It was an essential of the common law crime of larceny.它是构成普通法中的盗窃罪的必要条件。

9 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

12 imputed   

v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They imputed the accident to the driver's carelessness. 他们把这次车祸归咎于司机的疏忽。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He imputed the failure of his marriage to his wife's shortcomings. 他把婚姻的失败归咎于妻子的缺点。 来自辞典例句

13 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

14 implicate   

vt.使牵连其中，涉嫌

参考例句：

• He didn't find anything in the notebooks to implicate Stu.他在笔记本中没发现任何涉及斯图的东西。
• I do not want to implicate you in my problem of the job.我工作上的问题不想把你也牵扯进来。

15 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

17 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

18 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。