Since the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, were charged with numerous crimes last month—including conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records—it’s been suggested that Weisselberg has remained loyal to Donald Trump and has continued to refuse to flip and cooperate against him. That’s obviously the kind of news that Trump likes to hear, given that Weisselberg, who has worked for the company for decades, presumably knows where all the bodies are buried and could play a crucial part in helping send the ex-president to prison. Less-than-great news, from the perspective of a guy hoping to avoid spending his twilight years behind bars? The fact that, according to a new report, prosecutors have evidence that Weisselberg’s son also dodged taxes with the help of the Trump Organization, raising the prospect that the elder Weisselberg will feel compelled to cooperate against Trump to save his kid.
The Daily Beast reports that while the indictment against the Trump Organization and its CFO only mentioned that a “family member” of Weisselberg received a free corporate apartment which the company “intentionally failed” to pay the associated taxes on, and that the lodging “constituted income to that family member,” it’s clear that the unnamed individual is Barry Weisselberg, Allen’s son who works for the company. (Both Allen Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty to all charges.) And while Barry described the setup as an innocent-sounding “corporate apartment that [he] was given temporarily” during an August 2018 divorce deposition, prosecutors view it in a much more negative light, describing it in the indictment against Barry’s dad as a “scheme to defraud.” And that‘s not the only dirt the Manhattan District Attorney’s office reportedly has on the younger Weisselberg.
“It’s all about control. The apartment, the car, the parking garage, the tuition, your vacations, your life, really,” Barry’s ex-wife, Jennifer, told the Daily Beast. “You’re embedded with them. You’re indebted to them…. when you work there, you end up doing crimes. You’re stuck. It’s like a mob. It all stays quiet because they end up owning you.”
As for why Barry has not yet been indicted, the Daily Beast notes that when it comes to the apartment, which could add up to more than $400,000 in additional income that Barry allegedly didn’t pay taxes on, the statute of limitations has passed on a potential felony charge, as Weisselberg has not lived in the space since 2012. (In a civil case, Barry Weisselberg could still be sued, according to Daniel Feldman, a professor at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.)
Still, other perks prosecutors are looking into could still land Barry in hot water, the kind his father would probably want to help him avoid, a turn of events that would not go over well at Trump Tower. As Weisselberg’s ex-daughter-in-law told AirMail in April, “Trump doesn’t care about Allen, but Allen knows every bad thing he ever did.”
The Manhattan D.A. declined the Daily Beast’s request for comment; Barry Weisselberg did not respond to the Daily Beast’s text messages and emails.
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