Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of former president Donald Trump’s eponymous real estate and hotel company, will reportedly give evidence against his employer if called to testify in the company’s upcoming tax fraud trial and will say he conspired with the companies to commit tax fraud when he enters a plea of guilty on Thursday.
According to Rolling Stone, Mr Weisselberg, a veteran of Trumpworld who has worked for the Trump Organization since the days of the ex-president’s father, Fred Trump, “has agreed to testify against The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation” when the two companies go on trial in October.
The Trump Organization accountant will provide testimony at trial that will be largely identical to the statement he will make in open court on Thursday, when he is expected to plead guilty to multiple violations of New York tax laws.
Mr Weisselberg’s testimony against the Trump companies could help Manhattan District Attorney’s Office prosecutors secure convictions against the company, which can result in massive fines that could bankrupt Mr Trump’s family business.
Last year, both Mr Weisselberg and the two companies were indicted for what prosecutors called a “sweeping and audacious illegal payment scheme” in which Mr Weisselberg recieved generous benefits, such as free rent, two leased luxury cars, and private school tuition paid by the companies but did not report any such perks as income as required by law. Nor did the company report the benefits afforded Mr Weisselberg as compensation for tax purposes.
According to the indictment, the Trump companies also paid for significant amounts of the longtime executive’s personal expenses, including “for his homes and for an apartment maintained by one of his children” as well as “new beds, flat-screen televisions, the installation of carpeting, and furniture for [Mr] Weisselberg’s home in Florida”.
Prosecutors have estimated the untaxed compensation recieved by Mr Weisselberg to be at least $1.7m.
