Remember those rooms in early action television where the walls start to move in on the hero or heroine? The left one moves. The star looks wildly around the room seeking an escape as the water starts pouring into the room. Well, that is where Donald Trump and his top money man, Allen Weisselberg, are right now. Will the long-time CFO of the Trump Organization give his boss a leg up or will he scramble over the ex-president’s body to escape?
From what Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law said, the Trump employee has been loyal to a fault. There was no doubt of course, what our ex would do. If cornered, he would pile up the bodies of Eric, Melania, Don Jr., and even Ivanka to save his own skin. What will the man who began working for Trump’s father 40 years ago do next?
The CFO has been told he will face charges by the Manhattan District Attorney (DA) this summer, which is only days away. DA Cyrus Vance has nearly completed the last stages of a criminal tax investigation into Weisselberg, CNBC reported.
“The fallout for Mr. Weisselberg would be steeper,” according to The New York Times.
‘With tax fraud, the fallout for Mr. Weisselberg would be steeper than under the scheme to defraud charge: Failing to pay more than $10,000 in taxes in a single year can be punishable by up to seven years in prison, while the penalty for scheming to defraud is a maximum of four years.’
The grand jury has heard most of the evidence against the money man, and the DA has Weisselberg’s tax returns, seeking evidence of hidden income that went to pay for his grandchildren’s private school in New York which could have run as much as $60,000 a year in addition to free rent. The latter could hide up to $250,000 a year, given how expensive NYC is.
Thus far, DA Vance has not had any luck in his attempts to flip Weisselberg. Senior Vice President and Controller of the Trump Organization Jeffrey McConney has already testified before the grand jury.
At this point in time, prosecutors had not announced whether his office would criminally charge the CFO. Weisselberg’s son Barry has also been a longtime employee of the company. The other son works at a bank that Trump uses.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Vance have joined forces to determine whether the Trump business increased the value of its properties for loan purposes and decreased them for insurance providers, which would be illegal.
Attorney at Caplin and Drysdale and a former senior official at the Department of Justice’s tax division, Cono R. Namorato, said:
‘Those dollar amounts could make it relatively easy for the Manhattan district attorney to make a criminal case.’
Trump claimed the investigation was politically motivated.
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