All of the charges against former US President Donald Trump relate to accounting violations linked to what the prosecutor believes was a cover-up plan that Trump conspired together with, among others, his then lawyer Michael Cohen.
According to prosecutors, Trump ordered payments to people who threatened to leak sensitive information about him during the 2016 presidential campaign.
This concerns the high-profile case of porn star Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about a casual sexual relationship between her and Donald Trump at a golf tournament in 2006.
Paid through agent
Also at issue is $150,000 paid to model Karen McDougal, who also claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. She filed a lawsuit to be freed from an agreement that prevented her from openly discussing an affair with Trump.
The third case concerns a gatekeeper who threatened to leak information that Trump had an illegitimate child. He reportedly received $30,000.
Signed checks
Trump then allegedly wrote monthly checks to Cohen, some of which were issued from the president’s own bank account. It is these eleven checks that form a large part of the indictment, as they were “fraudulently” posted.
Trump claims the transfers to Cohen were for legal services, which is not true, according to District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who cited evidence found at Trump’s residence last year.
The prosecutor believes that Trump has carried out a cover-up plan, a so-called “catch and kill scheme”. But that Trump’s actions violate, according to Bragg, New York’s election campaign law.
