Trump’s longtime finance chief testifies at company’s fraud trial

[Scott]

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief is still a company man, collecting a hefty salary from the former president’s namesake Trump Organization even as he makes his long-awaited turn as the prosecution’s star witness in a criminal tax fraud trial.

 

Allen Weisselberg testified Tuesday that until recently he was working as a senior adviser for the company — out as CFO following his arrest last year, but with no loss in pay — and is now on a paid leave of absence after pleading guilty in August to evading taxes on $1.7 million in company-paid perks.

 

Weisselberg, who’s still collecting his usual $640,000 salary and $500,000 in annual bonuses, said he even celebrated his 75th birthday at Trump Tower with cake and colleagues just hours after finalizing the plea agreement, which now pits him against the company where he’s worked since the mid-1980s.

[ozimoron]

Weisselberg: Trump 'authorized' tax fraud scheme at heart of his business' criminal trial

 

On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime top accountant for the Trump Organization, testified at trial that former President Donald Trump was aware of — and personally approved — the fraudulent accounting for which his family business is now under criminal indictment.

 

https://www.rawstory.com/weisselberg-testimony/

[candide]

3 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Weisselberg: Trump 'authorized' tax fraud scheme at heart of his business' criminal trial

 

On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime top accountant for the Trump Organization, testified at trial that former President Donald Trump was aware of — and personally approved — the fraudulent accounting for which his family business is now under criminal indictment.

 

https://www.rawstory.com/weisselberg-testimony/

It's just because he likes to treat his employees well! ????

[placeholder]

13 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Weisselberg: Trump 'authorized' tax fraud scheme at heart of his business' criminal trial

 

On Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported that Allen Weisselberg, the longtime top accountant for the Trump Organization, testified at trial that former President Donald Trump was aware of — and personally approved — the fraudulent accounting for which his family business is now under criminal indictment.

 

https://www.rawstory.com/weisselberg-testimony/

What's particularly damning about this is that the Trump company is continuing to pay someone who blatantly violated the law and landed the company in a whole lot of trouble. Obviously, the Trump organization doesn't want to anger this guy. Trump has had nothing but nice things to say about him. This is similar to Trump's hinting at, and ultlimately giving pardons to the various lowlifes in his administration who could be in a position to incriminate him.

[ozimoron]

3 minutes ago, placeholder said:

What's particularly damning about this is that the Trump company is continuing to pay someone who blatantly violated the law and landed the company in a whole lot of trouble. Obviously, the Trump organization doesn't want to anger this guy. Trump has had nothing but nice things to say about him. This is similar to Trump's hinting at, and ultlimately giving pardons to the various lowlifes in his administration who could be in a position to incriminate him.

His sentencing for his guilty plea is still pending until after this trial to assess his honesty and degree of cooperation. If he doesn't deliver he will be getting his salary in jail for a long time. I believe the deal was a few months in return for what would amount to a life sentence.

[placeholder]

I believed that it was incriminating for the Trump Organization to have done nothing to Weisselberg after his fraud was discovered. I must apologize for spreading misinformation. It turns out that they did do something. They gave him a raise.

Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg got a raise after fraud was discovered

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-trump-organization-tax-fraud-eric-don-jr-20221118-ud3zfzdhn5gz3jwvzy5goxndfe-story.html

[ozimoron]

5 minutes ago, placeholder said:

I believed that it was incriminating for the Trump Organization to have done nothing to Weisselberg after his fraud was discovered. I must apologize for spreading misinformation. It turns out that they did do something. They gave him a raise.

Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg got a raise after fraud was discovered

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-trump-organization-tax-fraud-eric-don-jr-20221118-ud3zfzdhn5gz3jwvzy5goxndfe-story.html

and is still on full pay. If you accused anybody of self dealing at the expense of your company why would you not fire them?

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

and is still on full pay. If you accused anybody of self dealing at the expense of your company why would you not fire them?

He knows too much....got to keep him sweet!

[candide]

It could not be invented! The first defense witness: ????

 

"longtime outside accountant for the Trump Organization testified at its tax-fraud trial on Tuesday that he would have been more than shocked if he'd seen the company's annual "secret" lists of Christmas bonus payments.

"I probably would have had a heart attack," Donald Bender, who did the company taxes for 35 years, told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday.

For years, former President Donald Trump personally signed stacks of bonus checks that were then stuffed into the holiday cards of favored company executives, jurors have already heard in the trial

.......The bonuses should have been reported in their entirety on company W-2s each year, as taxable income. But they were not, prosecutors have charged."

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-organizations-outside-accountant-testifies-011016142.html

 

[placeholder]

27 minutes ago, candide said:

It could not be invented! The first defense witness: ????

 

"longtime outside accountant for the Trump Organization testified at its tax-fraud trial on Tuesday that he would have been more than shocked if he'd seen the company's annual "secret" lists of Christmas bonus payments.

"I probably would have had a heart attack," Donald Bender, who did the company taxes for 35 years, told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday.

For years, former Pere then stuffed into the holiday cards of favored company executives, jurors have already heard in the trial

.......The bonuses should have been reported in their entirety on company W-2s each year, as taxable income. But they were not, prosecutors have charged."

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-organizations-outside-accountant-testifies-011016142.html

 

I think Trump's best defense is to confess to abysmal ignorance. It's not like he doesn't have a record to support that.

[placeholder]

Utterly believable!

 

At Trump Org, a 'generous,' 'forgiving' Trump reigned over thankful executives, the defense theory claims

https://www.businessinsider.com/at-trump-org-trump-depicted-as-forgivng-and-generous-gifter-2022-11