The Daily Beast is reporting the following:
A witness in the New York investigation against the Trump Organization has told prosecutors that Donald Trump personally guaranteed he would cover school costs for the family members of two employees in lieu of a raise—directly implicating the former president in an ongoing criminal tax fraud case.
The explosive claims come from Jennifer Weisselberg, the ex-wife of a longtime company employee, during a teleconference call with investigators on Friday, June 25, according to two sources who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.
On that afternoon's Zoom call, those sources said, investigators with the Manhattan district attorney and New York state attorney general asked Jennifer Weisselberg whether Trump himself was involved in the company’s alleged tax-dodging scheme of making corporate gifts instead of increasing salary that would be taxed.
He was, she answered.
Weisselberg then provided key details for investigators. In January 2012, inside Trump’s office at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, Jennifer Weisselberg watched as Trump discussed compensation with her husband and her father-in-law, both company employees. Her husband wouldn’t be getting a raise, but their children would get their tuition paid for at a top-rated private academy instead.
Weisselberg allegedly relayed to prosecutors that Trump turned to her and said: "Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.”
I could be wrong, but I do not think that Jennifer Weisselberg has ever publicly stated this information before. I know that she has been called before the grand jury to testify, and she has been under some type of order not to discuss any specifics about her testimony. You can tell that from the interviews she has given to the Media of late.
If I am wrong, please let me know dear readers.
Otherwise, the Daily Beast is reporting this as direct linkage of Trump to tax fraud. And according to the article, the prosecutors were stunned by this revelation. It is not stated what the prosecutors may have thought, but I suppose they were satisfied that they had a witness in the room to Trump’s crime, other than Allen “I’m not flipping” Weisselberg that is.
The article goes on to talk about how Trump used paying for grandkids tuition and apartments was a way for the Trump organization to avoid payroll taxes (people were being paid off the books). And individuals receiving the off the book payments also avoided paying income tax. In fact, this popped up during Jennifer Weisselberg’s divorce from husband Barry.
Her ex-husband, Barry Weisselberg, the longtime manager of the Wollman ice rink, also provided potentially damning testimony during his divorce case in 2018. He described how his salary remained flat for years—and how his father, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, made sure the cost of their luxurious lifestyle was covered. Among the perks: a swanky apartment in the heart of the city facing the south end of Central Park, and later, a unit in the upscale Upper East Side. In both instances, the true value of the rent was substantially higher than what he could afford on his official salary.
So it appears the prosecutors have a witness who was there when Trump directed one of his off the books schemes.