Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg Begins Testimony on Day Six of New York Civil Fraud Trial

Allen Weisselberg, the ex-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, took the stand on Tuesday morning in the former president’s civil fraud trial.

In August 2022, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 tax fraud-related counts in a separate criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. A longtime Trump loyalist, Weisselberg spent the better part of half a century in New York real estate, and he previously worked under Fred Trump, the former president's father. Weisselberg testified against Trump's namesake company at that trial in criminal court and was later sentenced to five months in jail, which he served in Rikers Island in New York.

Assistant Attorney General Louis Solomon revisited that history at the start of Tuesday's direct examination, displaying a copy of Weisselberg's $2 million separation agreement with the Trump Organization. Weisselberg claimed his memory of his departure from the company was foggy, likely occurring around the time of his criminal convictions, but the document shows he stayed with the company until Oct. 1, 2022, when he was placed on leave.

He signed the agreement on Jan. 9, 2023, the day before his sentencing.

Now one of five defendants left in the civil fraud case, Weisselberg is now standing trial along with former President Donald Trump, sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and fellow ex-Trump Organization executive Jeffrey McConney. The former controller of the Trump Organization, McConney testified on Friday that Weisselberg asked him for help committing tax fraud. 

McConney also delivered damaging testimony about Eric Trump, another co-defendant in the case, regarding the Briarcliff Manor golf club property. Evidence showed that McConney had valued the property at $101 million mark from 2015 to 2018, despite an appraisal putting it at $43.3 million.

In a phone conversation on Nov. 17, 2015, Eric Trump also directed McConney to “leave value as is,” according to McConney’s testimony.

This is a developing story and will be updated.