Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg testified under oath in the company’s criminal tax evasion trial that Trump family members did not know of the scheme to avoid paying taxes, claiming it was undertaken by him and the company’s controller, NBC News reports.
Weisselberg and other company executives received off-the-books compensation such as rent-free apartments, the use of cars, or tuition paid for their relatives out of Trump accounts–including Donald Trump’s personal accounts–instead of logged pay in an attempt to avoid paying taxes and increasing the company’s tax burden. Having pleaded guilty in August for his role in the scheme, Weisselberg said he and controller Jeffrey McConney were the only ones who knew the company wasn’t reporting these as taxable expenditures, even though Donald Trump and his two sons would sign checks to compensate the employees.
And yet, even though he’s admitted, under oath, to being criminally bad at his job, exposing the company to expensive litigation, and even risking the business license of the corporation itself because of his actions, Weisselberg is still employed by the Trump Organization, which says its former CFO is on a personal leave of absence. In fact, Weisselberg testified that he is still on the company’s legitimate payroll which pays taxes and everything, maintaining his one million dollar annual salary. Weisselberg said that while he was no longer CFO, his duties remained the same, although he did not specify if those duties continue to include defrauding tax authorities.