Longtime Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for The Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg, 75, testified under oath Thursday. He said that the company halted its illegal tax practices athe same time that Donald Trump stepped into the White House.
The CFO actually began working for the organization before the ex-president took over from his father. Now Weisselberg is testifying in a New York court and taking on the illegal activities himself. If the man is honest in his testimony, he will serve a five-month prison sentence at Rikers Prison and five years probation. The penalty for not fully cooperating is between five and 15 years in prison.
Judge Juan Merchan has to approve the deal, and the judge will decide what the CFO’s sentence is.
On day two of the trial, Weisselberg continued his testimony. He said that the company had been “cutting executives” bonus checks by means of 1099 income tax form long before the former CFO ever came on board in 1986. That illegal technique saved the company from paying taxes, and the individuals avoided any taxes from being withheld. Those checks were usually $100,000-plus.
But when his boss became president, the employee said that The Trump Organization decided to stop several of its “illegal tax practices,” CNN reported:
‘Mr. Trump became president and everybody was looking at our company from every different angle you could think of including himself personally. We felt at the time, let’s go through all the practices that we’ve been utilizing over the years and make sure we correct everything we have to correct.’
The previous president liked to sign the bonus check for his executives sometime around the holidays. It was Weisselberg’s job to bring Trump the stack of checks to sign:
‘Donald Trump always wanted to sign the bonus checks.’
Trump delivered the checks in a Christmas card. until he became the 45th president. The former POTUS also liked to hand out the bonuses personally to his employees in a Christmas card, Weisselberg said of his boss.
The accounting firm that serviced The Trump Organization was Mazars. One of its partners, Donald Bender, raised the issue of misusing the bonus checks. It appeared that the 1099 tax forms were for either “independent contractors or self-employed people.” Weisselberg said:
‘He didn’t love the idea.’
The Trump Organization continued to cut bonus checks until “an internal investigation.” As a result of this practice, the company faces:
‘[N]ine counts of tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records in what prosecutors allege was a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities by failing to report and pay taxes on compensation provided to employees.’
Interestingly enough, Donald Trump was not charged in this case.
Then Weisselberg addressed how Trump began paying the school tuition for his employees; grandchildren as another employee perk. The money man testified about a conversation with Trump:
“I have to pay more in the way of tuition bills for these kids so I may as well pay your grandkids too.’
So then Weisselberg handed Trump the invoices from the grandchildren’s school. And the business owner’s son, Donald Trump, Jr. also signed some tuition checks until 2017.
The former CFO was careful to avoid any inclusion of Trump or Don Junior other than they signed the checks. After that, the younger Trump said that he would pay Weisselberg back for the lull in payments, but Don Junior did not say how.
The former CEO blamed the illegal activity on his own “personal greed.” Back in August, Weisselberg pled guilty to not paying taxes on about $1.7 million for a “company-funded apartment in New York, too.
Weisselberg testified that he did not conspire or scheme with any members of the Trump family in connection to the tax-related charges he pleaded guilty to. Instead, he assumed the responsibility:
‘It was my own personal greed that led to this.’
Defense Attorney Alan Futerfas read the 15 charges that the CFO pled guilty to. In other words, Weisselberg took the fall for Donald Trump and The Trump Organization. Futerfas said to the former CFO:
‘Did you conspire with (Trump Organization Controller) Jeff McConney?’
“Yes,” Weisselberg replied. Then the Defense attorney asked whether the man had “conspire(d) with any member of the Trump Family?” The CFO said that he had not. The attorney continued, according to CBS News:
‘Did you scheme with Jeff McConney?’
The former CFO said “yes.”
Then. the attorney asked the pivotal question:
‘Did you scheme with any member of the Trump family?’
The former CFO said “No.”
Will the Trumps be implicated? Stay tuned.
Featured image was a screenshot via YouTube.
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.
