On Friday, the New York Post reported that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime CFO of the Trump Organization, revealed at trial that the children of former President Donald Trump realized he was using shady accounting tricks to cook the books at the company — and then gave him a huge raise.
"Eric and Donald Trump Jr. in 2017 learned Weisselberg, 75, and two other top execs had been getting cushy perks that they didn’t report on their taxes — yet nobody was penalized, Weisselberg testified at the Manhattan Supreme Court tax fraud trial against the Trump Org," reported Priscilla DeGregory and Khristina Narizhnaya. "The sons learned of the tax cheating during a 'cleanup process' the company underwent with tax auditors when Trump took office as president, Weisselberg said."
"When prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked the longtime chief financial officer if the Trump Org demoted or punished him in light of the discovery, he said no," said the report. "'Were you in fact given a raise … that totaled approximately $200,000?' Hoffinger asked. 'Correct,' Weisselberg replied on his final day of testimony."
Weisselberg, long considered to be one of the most loyal members of the Trump's inner circle and the one person who had access to the Trump Organization's entire financial operations, took a plea deal earlier this year, admitting to accepting $1.7 million in non-monetary benefits from the company as a way of evading taxes.
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Among other things, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization pay school tuition for his grandchildren, and received free use of company-owned cars and an Upper West Side apartment.
Weisselberg's testimony, which he provided as part of his plea agreement for a 5-month prison sentence, revealed a number of new details publicly, including that Trump himself "authorized" the accounting tricks that helped the business skip on paying taxes, and that he was never really fired, continuing to be paid and handle the Trump Organization's money even after the company publicly claimed to sever ties with him to limit their legal exposure.
