NEW YORK — As Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg helped save the former president’s real estate empire by avoiding insolvency after casino and airline bankruptcies in the 1990s.
Now, after a recent prison stint for tax fraud, Weisselberg is back in the spotlight: He will testify Tuesday in the civil trial in the lawsuit over tax fraud New York general, Letitia James, against the former Republican president and his company, the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg, also a defendant in the lawsuit, is expected to testify about his role in preparing Trump’s annual financial statements, including conversations they had while finalizing the documents, which were given to banks, insurers and others to close deals and obtain loans.
James’ suit alleges that Weisselberg crafted Trump’s financial statements to meet his demands that they show increases in his net worth and approved high asset valuations despite valuations to the contrary.
Trump is not expected to who attended the first three days of the trial without a jury last week in Manhattan, return to court to see his former CFO testify. An appeals court on Friday rejected Trump’s bid to halt the trial while he fights a pretrial ruling that could strip him of Trump Tower and other properties.
Weisselberg has been depressed since leaving a New York City jail six months ago after serving 100 days for evading taxes on $1.7 million in workplace benefits, including a Manhattan apartment, luxury cars for himself and his wife. and the school enrollment of their grandchildren.
“Over the past several months, I am sure it is well documented and well known that I have been through quite a bit,” Weisselberg testified in a May deposition in the civil case.
Weisselberg, 76, testified that he had trouble sleeping, began seeing a therapist and was taking a generic form of Valium as he tried to “reacclimate to society.”
“This has been a traumatic and difficult time for me and my family,” Weisselberg told attorneys in the courtroom, including la fiscal James, according to a transcript of the deposition made public last month.
“After a long time, what I considered a very quiet business, a job that I had for all these years, being thrown into this situation has had a traumatic impact on my daily life and the life of my family,” Weisselberg said.
Weisselberg has not given interviews or made public comments since being released from prison.
Trump, in his statement in April, said of his former lieutenant: “He was with me for a long time. He liked them. He was respected. He now he has been through hell and back. What happened to him is very sad.”
Jeffrey McConney, the former comptroller of the Trump Organization, testified in the civil trial on Friday that Weisselberg asked him to help him commit tax fraud on multiple occasions, including changing payroll records to hide benefits and giving his wife a check for a job you didn’t show up for could qualify you for Social Security benefits.
Those allegations, which were also at the center of the Trump Organization’s criminal conviction last year, are not part of the civil case. McConney said he helped Weisselberg because he feared he would be fired if he refused.
In a pretrial ruling last month, Judge Arthur Engoron determined that Trump and other defendants, including Weisselberg, committed years of fraud by overstating the value of Trump’s assets and net worth in his financial statements.
As punishment, Engoron ordered a court-appointed receiver to take control of some Trump companies, throwing the future of Trump Tower and other major properties into doubt. On Friday, an appeals court blocked enforcement of that aspect of the Engoron ruling, at least for now.
The civil suit concerns allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsification of business records. James is seeking $250 million in fines and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
In his May deposition, Weisselberg recalled how Trump sometimes underlined or wrote a question mark next to securities he disagreed with and questioned language used in financial statements to describe his holdings.
“I could say beautiful. I could say magnificent,” Weisselberg testified. “I could say it was nice. “He would say it’s amazing.”
Weisselberg’s association with the Trump family dates back to 1973, when he responded to a newspaper ad seeking an accountant for Trump’s father, Fred, a real estate developer who owned apartment buildings in New York City. She began working for Donald Trump in 1986. In her later years, she earned $1.14 million a year in salary and bonuses.
Weisselberg’s tax fraud case accelerated his departure from the company. Under a severance agreement he signed the day before going to jail, Weisselberg is to receive $2 million in eight quarterly installments. That sum is close to the amount of back taxes, penalties and interest he was required to pay as part of his plea deal.
So far, according to a payment schedule included in the agreement, Weisselberg has received $750,000 in compensation.
2023-10-10 13:14:31
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