Allen Weisselberg, a former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, appeared in court on Thursday, outlining how two of Donald Trump’s children allegedly took part in a scheme to defraud tax authorities.
Weisselberg claimed that Donald Trump, or occasionally Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr., wrote checks totalling up to $100,000 to cover the cost of Weisselberg’s grandchildren’s private school tuition.
Weisselberg claimed that he subsequently gave the controller of the business the order to subtract $100,000 from his pay, enabling him to declare a lower income.
The Trumps signed copies of some of the checks that were displayed in court.
Don’t forget, I’m going to pay you back for this, Weisselberg claimed he promised Trump the first time he signed a tuition check. He claimed that the wage reduction served as payment.
Weisselberg, two Trump Organization businesses, and numerous other defendants are charged with numerous counts of fraud and tax evasion.
In August, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to charges brought against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which claimed he received more than $1.7 million in untaxed pay.
Over the course of the first two days of evidence, Weisselberg, who is still employed by the Trump Organization, has detailed a long list of advantages he and other executives got, for which he claims their incomes were also decreased to avoid paying taxes.
He claimed that in the case of himself and many other executives, significant bonus payments made to the executives in the manner of independent contractors to Trump Organization firms served to offset the compensation decreases.
(with inputs from agencies)
