Weisselberg and two of Trump's companies were indicted in Manhattan last year after prosecutors said the company's compensation to Weisselberg included perks like apartments, luxury cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren that were never reported on his taxes. Weisselberg in August pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including grand larceny, tax fraud and falsifying business records. He agreed to serve five months in prison, pay $1.9 million in back taxes and penalties and agreed to testify at the Trump Organization's trial.
"This case is about greed and cheating, cheating on taxes," prosecutor Susan Hoffinger said in court, according to Politico. "The scheme was conducted, directed and authorized at the highest level of the accounting department."
Lawyers representing two of Trump's businesses at the trial, meanwhile, threw Weisselberg under the bus and suggested that Trump may be the real victim of the scheme.
"Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg," Michael van der Veen, a lawyer for Trump's payroll company, said in court.
Van der Veen argued that Weisselberg abused the Trump family's trust after 50 years of working for the family.
"Given the decades he was there and the projects he worked on and that he was with this family when times were good and when times weren't so good—he was trusted by everyone, he was trusted to protect this company," he said, according to Mother Jones. "He was like family to the Trump family, and no employee was trusted more than he, but he made mistakes."
He went on to claim that Trump only found out about Weisselberg's efforts to avoid taxes when he was indicted.
by Igor Derysh, Salon | Read more:
Image: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
[ed. Uh huh... and didn't they finally bring down Al Capone on tax charges?]
[ed. Uh huh... and didn't they finally bring down Al Capone on tax charges?]
