Allen Weisselberg looks on as then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, May 31, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
The Trump Organization between at least 2005 and 2021 paid executives—including its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg—in perks such as rent and car leases without reporting those benefits to tax authorities, said Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office. "Everybody wins here," Hoffinger said. "Of course, everybody but the tax authorities. The problem with doing it this way is that it's not legal."Weisselberg agreed to testify as a prosecution witness at trial as part of a plea agreement for him to receive a sentence of five months in jail.
A lawyer for the other unit charged—the Trump Payroll Corporation—is expected to give an opening statement later on Monday. Weisselberg avoided taxes on $1.76 million in personal income himself through luxury perks, such as rent for a Manhattan apartment. But in a pretrial hearing this month, a Trump Organization lawyer accused Weisselberg of lying, an indication of the bind the company finds itself in.
'... a prosecutor told...' Isn't that a default? And it's news worth amplifying in the Philippines?