NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s family real estate company offered employee benefits that were so lucrative they classified as crimes — so it kept the details in two sets of books, prosecutors told a Manhattan jury Monday during opening arguments of the long-awaited tax fraud trial.
“This case is about greed and cheating. Cheating on taxes,” Assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger told jurors at Manhattan Supreme Court.
“These two defendants, the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corporation, paid their already highly paid executives even more by helping them cheat on taxes from about 2005 to 2018.”
Hoffinger rattled off a laundry list of illicit work expenses that were left off Allen Weisselberg’s tax forms in her opening argument. The case stems from a nearly three-year investigation into Trump’s business practices by the Manhattan DA.
A rent-free apartment with Central Park views, a Mercedes-Benz car lease for his wife, and furniture for his Florida home were just some of the pricey perks the chief financial officer enjoyed under Trump’s employ, Hoffinger said.
“On top of all that, Donald Trump paid for Allen Weisselberg’s grandchildren’s school tuition.”
Weisselberg, who was hired by Donald’s father Fred in the 1970s, was making close to $1 million a year by 2008 between salary, perks and around $150,000 in bonuses, Hoffinger said. But by only reporting his base salary to tax authorities, Trump’s company found ways to enrich itself and award its senior executive without owing more money to Uncle Sam.
“The evidence will show that doing it legally would have cost the Trump Organization more,” she said. “If the company gives him a $100,000 raise, he only keeps about half of that after taxes.”
Hoffinger told the jury they would hear about the criminal tax fraud scheme straight from the horse’s mouth. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August for a reduced sentence in exchange for his testimony.
She said his testimony would show that the scheme was conducted, directed and authorized at the highest levels of the accounting department at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. There, Weisselberg and company controller Jeffrey McConney plotted how the companies would hide the costly compensation.
Trump Organization Vice President Matthew Calamari also enjoyed a company-owned apartment on Park Avenue and a tax-free Mercedes, Hoffinger said. Weisselberg’s son, Barry Weisselberg, was the recipient of the place overlooking Central Park, where he managed Trump’s cash-only ice rink for 18 years.
In the defense’s opening, Trump Organization lawyer Susan Necheles countered that Weisselberg was a lone agent who had cheated on his taxes unbeknownst to his employer to benefit himself, “his buddy and his son.” She said there was no evidence the Trump entities cheated on corporate taxes.
“Mr. Weisselberg instructed his longtime direct subordinate, Jeff McConney, not to report all of the income, and Jeff McConney did what Allen Weisselberg told him to do,” said Necheles.
The Trump Organization lawyer said Weisselberg had been forced to pin blame on the company he had worked at for half a century after being railroaded by the justice system.
“The evidence will (show) that when Mr. Weisselberg was arrested and charged with a crime, that the prosecution had him paraded in front of cameras in handcuffs,” said Necheles, prompting the judge to sustain an objection.
“Mr. Weisselberg realized he was facing not just public humiliation but a potential jail sentence that will be years long. This was a man who had a beautiful life. He was the chief financial officer of a prestigious company. At his peak, he made over a million a year.”
The trial’s first witness was McConney. The company’s senior vice president and controller received immunity in exchange for his grand jury testimony starting in 2019.
Though McConney was testifying for the prosecution, he made clear from the outset it wasn’t their side he was on. The Trump Organization exec revealed the company was paying his legal fees and he hadn’t willingly spoken with prosecutors since being forced to testify in the grand jury investigation. He’d last spoken with the Trump Organization lawyer on Sunday.
“Did she tell you to hit certain points?” asked Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass.
“Yes,” replied McConney.
The Trump entities, which comprise a fraction of the 500 corporate entities under the Trump Organization umbrella, face more than $1 million in fines if convicted. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues Tuesday, with McConney expected to continue testifying.
____
