In a criminal indictment unsealed Thursday, prosecutors called Weisselberg « one of the largest individual beneficiaries » of the alleged scheme to understate certain employees’ compensation.
Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, was formally by New York prosecutors Thursday of participating in a years-long scheme that allowed him and other company executives to receive « off-the-books » compensation, benefits for which he allegedly neglected to pay taxes on while also raking in tens of thousands in federal and state refunds. In a criminal indictment unsealed Thursday, prosecutors called Weisselberg « one of the largest individual beneficiaries » of the alleged scheme, and accused him of taking steps over the course of more than 15 years to conceal nearly $1.8 million in compensation from tax authorities. In court Thursday, assistant district attorney Carey Dunne said, « To put it bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payments scheme. » Weisselberg pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include tax fraud, grand larceny and conspiracy, and his lawyers, Mary Mulligan and Bryan Skarlatos, said he is « prepared to fight these charges in court. » Here’s how prosecutors say Weisselberg hid his income from tax authorities: Prosecutors said Weisselberg failed to tell tax authorities that from 2005 to 2017, the Trump Corporation, the main corporate entity of the Trump Organization, paid for rent, utility bills and monthly garage expenses at his New York City apartment. The apartment has been Weisselberg’s primary residence since 2005, and is located on the west side of Manhattan in a building complex previously known as « Trump Place, » though the Trump Corporation did not own the building, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the company marked and deducted the rent-related payments in their general ledger as « rent expenses, » and not employee compensation, and as a result, the payments were omitted from Weisselberg’s personal tax return and he failed to report the indirect compensation to tax authorities. Prosecutors alleged that over the course of more than a decade, Weisselberg used this method to conceal approximately $1,174,018 in indirect income from tax authorities. New York investigators allege in the indictment that over a five-year period beginning in 2012, private school tuition for two of Weisselberg’s family members was paid by personal checks signed by Mr. Trump himself and later through the Donald J.
