Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg Dealt Directly With His Son on Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street Loans

More than five years before his presidency, Donald Trump’s namesake company sought a hefty commercial loan for the midtown Manhattan skyscraper that he called his home. 

On the borrower’s side of the Trump Tower deal, the Trump Organization’s then-chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg reached out to his son Jack Weisselberg, who was working for lender Ladder Capital. 

"As discussed we are looking for a forward commitment in the amount of $65 mil., and a term of ten years to take effect in August 2012,” the elder Weisselberg wrote to his son on Oct. 19, 2011.  

The subject of the email began: “TTCOML OCT 2011,” an acronym that Jack Weisselberg testified was short for “Trump Tower commercial loan.”

A day later, Allen Weisselberg wrote another email to his son.

“Please note that the numbers reflected in the projection includes a license fee payment from the producers of the Apprentice ( Reilly Worldwide) is shown as $500,000, however the real value of the two floors is approx.$100psf or $2,798,100 or an add'l $2,298,100 to the bottom line,” it stated, using the abbreviation for per square foot. “Additionally, The Trump Organization occupies approx. 37,225 sq. ft. at approx.$75 psf equates to an add'l $2,791,875 to the bottom line as well."

On Wednesday afternoon, counsel for New York Attorney General Letitia James confronted Jack Weisselberg with this email during Trump’s ongoing civil fraud trial in Manhattan Supreme Court. The attorney general hasn’t alleged impropriety in the family relationship between the Weisselbergs, and her lawsuit is silent on the matter. Allen Weisselberg was convicted of criminal tax fraud, for reasons entirely unrelated to his son, who hasn’t been accused of either criminal or civil wrongdoing. 

Ladder Capital’s CEO previously appeared to play down the younger Weisselberg’s role in statements to Forbes, telling the financial publication that Jack Weisselberg worked in sales and "has zero capital commitment authority at my company.” 

But the emails entered into evidence on Wednesday afternoon opened a window into how he and his father worked together — in at least some capacity — on two loans, involving Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street. 

Visibly tense, the former president tightly crossed his arms and shook his head during key moments of his testimony, as his attorneys lodged vehement objections under the statute of limitations. This email, and others, largely predated the facts at issue in the case, but Justice Arthur Engoron allowed them to be admitted for the attorney general to establish the Trump Organization’s business practices. 

The communications showed the Weisselberg father and son dealing with each other directly on the enormous loan, which ultimately was raised to $100 million, according to Forbes. 

On Jan. 10, 2012, Allen Weisselberg wrote another email to different Ladder Capital staffers. 

“We should have their comments to app and rate lock agreement tomorrow, but they are skittish on a CMBS loan,” Weisselberg’s email began, abbreviating commercial mortgage-backed securities. “Ivanka (with Jared Kushner’s input) has made him rethink things. I tried to explain the differences bw a low leverage CMBS loan and a 100% financing CMBS loan where one overpays. He gets it but is deciding. He’s also nervous about Gucci’s rent becoming public knowledge, as he tends to embellish from time to time.” 

Jack Weisselberg confirmed that Gucci was a tenant of Trump Tower at the time, and their rent would have become public if the deal went through as planned. The younger Weisselberg’s direct examination continued through the afternoon recess and remained ongoing by press time.

On April 10, 2015, the Trump Organization’s then-controller Jeff McConney wrote Jack Weisselberg about 40 Wall Street, copying the recipient’s father. A loan modification agreement was attached.

The Weisselbergs’ communications regarding the lower Manhattan skyscraper figured into Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling before trial ordering the dissolution of Trump’s New York business empire.

“An email exchange dated August 4, 2014, between Allen Weisselberg and his son, Jack Weisselberg, a Ladder Capital employee, discusses the 2015 $540 million Cushman & Wakefield appraisal,” the judge wrote in a footnote of his blistering ruling. “Notwithstanding direct knowledge of it, the 2015 SFC valued 40 Wall Street at nearly $200 million more.”