Trump Org. jury seeks clarity as deliberations continue

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in the Trump Organization’s criminal tax fraud deliberated for a second day Tuesday, weighing charges that former President Donald Trump’s company helped executives dodge personal income taxes on perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars.

Jurors returned to the courtroom twice with questions Tuesday seeking a refresher on some of the charges in the complex, numbers-heavy case.

First, they asked the judge to reread three counts of falsifying business records pertaining to the creation of W-2 tax forms for longtime Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg.

Then, they asked to hear a fourth falsifying business records charge, which involves allegations that Weisselberg ordered an underling to delete “Per Allen Weisselberg” notations from Trump’s general ledger a few months before his 2016 election. The notations were on entries reflecting Trump's payment of private school tuition for Weisselberg’s grandchildren.

The deliberations follow a monthlong trial that featured testimony from seven witnesses, including Weisselberg and Senior Vice President and Controller Jeffrey McConney. An outside accountant who spent years preparing tax returns for Trump and the company also testified.

The jury deliberated for about four hours on Monday.

Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in extras, testified that he and McConney conspired to hide extras from his income by deducting their cost from his pre-tax salary and issuing falsified W-2 forms.

Prosecutors charged the Trump Organization in the form of two subsidiaries, Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation. Trump Corporation is charged with nine counts. Trump Payroll Corporation is charged with eight.

Jurors must decide if Weisselberg was a “high managerial...