Learn more about Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s CFO who is facing criminal charges.<\/b>
\nAllen Weisselberg, 73, the chief financial officer for former President Donald Trump \u2018s family business, the Trump Organization, may face criminal charges levied by the Manhattan district attorney. The district attorney\u2019s office seems to have been accumulating information about Weisselberg for months in an attempt to gain his cooperation in larger case regarding Trump\u2019s business dealings, according to The New York Times. The CFO is expected to be charged on Thursday July 1, via The Wall Street Journal. Here are five things that you should know about Weisselberg and the charges he\u2019s facing. Weisselberg has been loyal to Trump for nearly 50 years. He began his career as an accountant for the former president\u2019s dad Fred Trump\u2019s company in 1973. Working his way up through the organization for years, Weisselberg was named CFO of Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts in 2000. Trump raved about Weisselberg in his 2004 book How To Get Rich. \u201cAllen has been with me for 30 years and knows how to get things done,\u201d Trump wrote. The charges being brought against Weisselberg stem from fringe benefits that Trump provided the CFO. Prosecutors have been investigating whether or not Weisselberg paid taxes on things like private school tuition, leased cars or apartments that Trump had given to him and his family as benefits, according to The New York Times. The charges appear to be more of an attempt to gain insight into Trump\u2019s business dealings with Weisselberg\u2019s help. When the federal investigation into Michael Cohen \u2018s allegations that the Trump Organization had paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $35,000 of hush money ended, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. turned a state-level investigation to Weisselberg. Weisselberg\u2019s two sons, Barry and Jack, have both had professional connections to the Trump Organization. Barry was a manager for the Central Park carrousel and Wollman ice skating rink, which the Trump Organization ran, and Jack was employed at Ladder Capital, a lender for the Trump Organization. Barry\u2019s ex-wife Jennifer told investigators that Trump had allegedly given the couple an apartment, which Barry claimed was \u201ccorporate property,\u201d according to The New Yorker. The apartment can be used against Weisselberg if he failed to report it on his taxes. Jennifer told The New Yorker that the fringe benefits are a business strategy. \u201cThey pay you with apartments and other stuff, as a control tactic, so you can\u2019t leave. They own you! You have to do whatever corrupt crap they ask,\u201d she said. Cohen also told The New Yorker that he thinks Weisselberg would cooperate in an investigation to keep his sons and himself out of prison. The fringe benefits charges aren\u2019t the first time that Weisselberg has been roped into investigations regarding Trump\u2019s shady business dealings. The CFO was deposed during a 2018 New York civil suit filed against the Trump Foundation for \u201cillegal conduct.\u201d Weisselberg was listed as the treasurer and a board member for the Trump Foundation. When asked, he said he \u201cdid not\u201d know that he\u2019d been listed as a board member for the charity for over ten years, according to The Washington Post. Weisselberg was also named in a lawsuit filed against Trump University. Court document s reveal that Weisselberg was one of the signatories on checks for the phony university, alongside Trump and three of the former president\u2019s children. It should come as no surprise that Trump trusts his CFO with his money. Weisselberg was a co-trustee listed on the former president\u2019s trust before he was inaugurated in 2017 alongside his son, Donald Trump Jr. A leaked recording of a call between Michael Cohen and Trump also indicated that Weisselberg has handled \u201cpersonal finances\u201d for Trump, including \u201chousehold bills,\u201d via The Washington Post. After investigations into hush money paid by the Trump Organization were launched, the company\u2019s attorney, Alan Futerfas, denied that Cohen would discuss payments with Weisselberg prior to Trump. \u201cMr. Weisselberg is a bookkeeper who simply carries out directions from others about monetary payments and transfers. There would be no reason for Mr. Cohen to have any conversation with Mr. Weisselberg prior to him recommending and obtaining approval for the purchase he was suggesting,\u201d he told The Washington Post.<\/p>\n