Trump Implicated in Trump Organization Tax Investigation: Report
By: Mia Jankowicz, Sonam Sheth, Jacob Shamsian (Business Insider)
open big mouth, insert foot...
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A cooperating witness in the Manhattan District Attorney investigation into the Trump Organization told prosecutors that former President Donald Trump personally offered to pay for perks in place of a taxable income, The Daily Beast reported, citing sources who heard the conversation.
The revelation could bolster any charges prosecutors would bring against Trump himself as part of a case that his company and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, have already been indicted for.
Manhattan prosecutors are currently investigating whether Trump Organization executives illegally took benefits without paying taxes on them, and whether the company engaged in tax and financial fraud.
Earlier in July, prosecutors announced a 15-count indictment accusing Weisselberg and the company of facilitating a scheme where he'd accept corporate gifts like apartments and tuition payments in lieu of higher salaries, thereby avoiding paying a chunk of taxes for both the company and its employees.
Two unnamed sources told The Daily Beast that they heard a June 25 interview between investigators and the witness, Jennifer Weisselberg, who is Allen Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, in which she said that Trump personally guaranteed to pay school costs rather than give a raise, including tuition for her children. The outlet did not say how the sources were connected to the investigation. Jennifer Weisselberg's lawyer did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Charging documents prosecutors filed earlier this month said that Trump personally signed tuition checks for Allen Weisselberg's family members. The former president is referenced several times in the 25-page indictment. Jennifer Weisselberg is said to have told prosecutors that Trump said he would pay for her and Barry's children's education instead of giving Barry a raise, the Daily Beast report said.
According to The Daily Beast, the agreement Jennifer Weisselberg recalled was made in January 2012 during a meeting at Trump Tower that included Trump, Jennifer Weisselberg, her then-husband Barry, and Allen Weisselberg. Barry Weisselberg is also a Trump Organization employee.
Jennifer Weisselberg told prosecutors that at one point in the 2012 meeting, Trump turned to her and said: "Don't worry, I've got it covered," the sources told the Daily Beast.
Investigators also asked Jennifer Weisselberg, who is in the middle of ongoing litigation stemming from her 2018 divorce from Barry Weisselberg, if Trump was personally involved in the alleged scheme. Jennifer Weisselberg said he was, sources told The Daily Beast.
The Manhattan DA investigation is ongoing
The Manhattan DA's charged the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg earlier this month with 15 felony counts including a scheme to defraud, conspiracy, grand larceny, tax fraud, and falsifying business records.
The indictment includes evidence that indicates Trump was personally involved in covering his employees' children's tuition payments. From 2012 to 2017, the indictment says, "Trump Corporation personnel, including Weisselberg, arranged for tuition expenses for Weisselberg's family members to be paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by Donald J. Trump, and later drawn on the account of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, dated April 7, 2017."
Prosecutors said that Weisselberg "intentionally" omitted the tuition payments from his personal tax returns even though he knew the payments "represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation in internal records."
Weisselberg and the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Trump slammed the investigation as a "witch hunt."
This month's indictment represents the first charges to come out of the Manhattan DA's three-year investigation into Trump's business dealings. But prosecutors said the inquiry is still ongoing, and legal experts told Insider that the charges may just be the tip of the iceberg where Trump is concerned.
"It's not going to be lost on Trump's lawyers that the government showed with this indictment how quickly they were able to put together what looks like a very solid case, considering how short a time they've had Trump and his company's records," said Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who was on the team that convicted the Gambino crime boss John Gotti.
The allegation that Trump personally signed the tuition checks is unlikely to shift Trump's personal exposure to the investigation, according to Randy Zelin, a former New York state prosecutor. Trump has already given speeches where he has not challenged the underlying facts of the prosecutors' allegations.
Zelin said that, if the case were to go to trial, Trump would likely admit to paying for employees' tuition but say he expected other people to make sure the tax payments were in order.
"It could be something as simple as 'Yes, of course, I agreed to have tuition covered as long as it's going to be done legitimately. And that's why I have accountants and CFOs and lawyers and, and professionals,'" Zelin, now a defense attorney at Wilk Auslander LLP, told insider.
Investigators could also bring charges against other Trump Organization employees, many of whom prosecutors said received the same type of untaxed benefits Weisselberg did.
"As prosecutors go through this evidence and threaten other company executives, they may not all be guys in their 70s" like Allen Weisselberg, Cotter said. "They might be in the prime of their life and they're going to think about the fact that they could go to jail for five, six, seven years if they get the wrong judge. Those are the guys that may have more motivation to cooperate."
Alan Futerfas, the Trump Organization's lawyer, did not provide a comment to The Daily Beast. Liz Harrington, Trump's spokesperson, did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment.
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gee, does the US have an extradition treaty for criminals with russia? is the secret service required to protect ex presidents under criminal indictment?
please help keep NT free from front page fascism by voting up this seed and commenting
They will all say it is the deep state out to get poor donald because they are afraid he will run again, all the while masturbating to reruns of his rallies.
Meanwhile donald himself will be throwing everyone else under the bus.
All while ignoring the fact that these investigations started way before his escalator speech announcing his running.
Amazes me sometimes. He has been a known crook for quite a while, like you said, even before he decided to run.
It is like they are championing white collar crime.
I don't think republicans recognize "white" collar crime. The rich can't commit crimes, in their minds.
because they're job creators, and criminal defense attorneys need jobs too...
Except for "big tech", according to GOP they are all criminals.
You can right click on the original image and save as to your desktop and then add it to the seeded article.
I sometimes have to do a search for the pic if it is some kind of web file.
I've had to do that too.
I corrected it.
thank you. I can never get the photos from that web site to fetch.
"According to The Daily Beast, Jennifer Weisselberg told investigators that Trump personally offered perks in lieu of taxable salary at a 2012 meeting."
Key word, "offered". It was up to the CFO to tell him that wasn't doable or even illegal and nipped it. If he had told them to jump from a 12th story window would they have done it? Could this be a diversion by the daughter to ease the punishment her father may see coming?
He is her ex father in law, not her father.
Old man Weisselberg's daughter in law has been saying all along that the whole Trump family is criminal. Now we will see if her words come to fruition.
gee, it'll be a shame if the spawn of evil misses his funeral...
... because they're in jail...
I wonder which NYC accounting firm is re-doing all the trump kids taxes now? (from the 1st wife)
She supposedly has the paperwork to prove her claim.
The article photo looks like his head is in a vice, lol.
Wishful thinking, lol?
the scowl of divine ignorance.
definitely a photo most suitable for photo shopping...