Manhattan district attorney’s office rarely pursues cases with Trump's charge as top count

https://www.timesunion.com/state/art...p-17878578.php

Manhattan district attorney’s office rarely pursues cases with Trump's charge as top count

Felony charges of falsifying business records usually end with a plea to a minor infraction and rarely result in jail time

Joshua Solomon
April 5, 2023 | Updated: April 5, 2023 4:22 p.m.

ALBANY — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday said his office routinely prosecutes cases like the one filed against former President Donald J. Trump, but data from the state Office of Court Administration indicates those specific charges are rarely pursued as the top count against defendants in New York and almost never result in a felony conviction.

Bragg, who described their investigation as the “bread and butter of our white-collar work,” asserted that pursuing accusations of falsifying business records not only upholds the law but also protects the integrity of New York City’s business sector.

“We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct,” Bragg said following the historic indictment of Trump on Tuesday, when he also said his office regularly pursues white-collar criminal conduct.

Still, state data show that it’s rare that individuals are charged only with the alleged crimes facing the former president — first-degree falsifying business records with the “intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”

Records show there have been roughly eight times in the past few years when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the felony charge of falsifying business records as the top or only charge. Albany County, home of the state Capitol and its numerous agencies, prosecuted 20 cases with that charge listed as the top count during the same period — which was the highest of any county in New York.

But Bragg's office on Wednesday noted that they routinely prosecute felony charges of falsifying business records in cases involving myriad other offenses. Officials there said in the 15 months that he has been district attorney, their office has filed "117 counts of felony falsifying business records against 29 different individuals and companies." They added that from 2019 to 2021, that office filed 168 felony counts of falsifying business records "against 34 different individuals and companies."

Still, in the past three and a half years, there were fewer than 300 instances statewide of an individual facing a top-level charge of falsifying business records in the first degree. Even more rare: a conviction, let alone a felony conviction, for the offenses filed against Trump, which requires proving the intent to commit or aid in another crime.

Bragg alleges Trump paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels as “hush money” less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Through a series of shell companies and payments to his former attorney and confidant, Michael Cohen, Trump is accused of making 34 false statements to cover up other crimes, Bragg alleges, as a part of a “catch and kill” scheme. He also accused Trump of violating state and federal election laws.

A review of two sets of state data, which were released over the last six months with the intent of informing conversations around proposed changes to the state’s bail laws, allows the public to see how often the specific offense Trump is facing is alleged.

By the numbers

The majority of cases led to a guilty plea, although it is rare to net a conviction for the crime alleged. Typically, the plea in those cases is to a violation or misdemeanor.

In the past two and a half years, 11 of the 148 cases led to a guilty plea for the charge of first-degree falsifying business records, a felony.

Occasionally, the cases are dismissed and, less often, cases are transferred to a grand jury or higher court, which could still lead to a felony charge.

The most common result after someone is charged with first-degree falsifying business records is a guilty plea to disorderly conduct, a violation.

Sometimes a less severe version of the “white collar” crime is agreed to on guilty plea, versions which may not require prosecutors to prove a certain intent and do not amount to a felony.

Most often, the penalty from the guilty plea is either a “conditional discharge” or a fine. Individuals served time in jail in 10 instances, but only in one case was that sentence longer than a month.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan, who is presiding over Trump's criminal case, has had one other case with a similar top-level charge. That case remained pending as of December, according to the state data. It involved an incident from 2005, according to the available records, but no other information, including the age, race or gender of the defendant, was immediately available.

It's extremely rare for a judge to set bail for someone charged with the offense of falsifying business records, especially in the wake of New York retooling its criminal justice statutes in 2019. Trump was not required by the judge to post bail while the case is pending.

Last year, in a rare decision, an Ontario County judge set $10,000 cash bail on a 36-year-old defendant who had been charged with falsifying business records. But that defendant had at least one prior violent felony conviction and additional criminal history. The person was sent to jail while they awaited trial.