People v. Trump

Donald Trump (defendant) was indicted for first-degree falsification of business records. Under New York law, an individual was guilty of second-degree falsifying of business records if the individual made a false entry in the records of a business with an intent to defraud. An individual was guilty of first-degree falsifying of business records if the individual’s intent to defraud included an intent to commit, aid, or conceal another crime. The indictment alleged that Trump, in furtherance of his campaign for president, funded hush-money payments to prevent negative stories about him from being published in the press. According to the indictment, Trump had those payments falsely recorded in the Trump Organization’s books as payments for legal services. The indictment alleged that Trump’s intent to defraud included an intent to commit four other crimes: (1) violation of federal election laws, in that the payments were effectively contributions to Trump’s campaign, thereby exceeding campaign-finance limits; (2) violation of the state election law that prohibited conspiracy to promote the election of any person by unlawful means; (3) the provision of materially false information to tax authorities; and (4) the entry of other false business records by Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen and others. Trump filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that there was not enough evidence that he intended to commit the four other crimes.