On Thursday, The Guardian reported that lawyers representing the Trump Organization are going all-out against the company's longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, claiming that the company's shady tax behavior was all engineered by him alone, for his own benefit.
"Susan Necheles, representing one unit of the Trump Organization, pointed the finger at Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer, in her closing argument to the 12-member jury in New York state court in Manhattan," said the report. "'We are here today because of one reason and one reason only — the greed of Allen Weisselberg,' Necheles said. 'The purpose of Mr Weisselberg's crimes was to benefit Mr Weisselberg.'"
"Necheles also pinned blame on Donald Bender, an accountant with Mazars USA, for turning a blind eye to Weisselberg's wrongdoing," said the report. "'President Trump relied on Mazars, he relied on Donald Bender to be the watchdog,' Necheles said. 'Bender failed.'"
The Trump Organization is accused by New York prosecutors of manipulating the value of its assets, keeping two sets of books and giving the lower value to the IRS to avoid paying taxes, even as they gave higher estimates to banks and insurance companies.
Weisselberg, one of the architects of the scheme, was a key prosecution witness. During the trial, he has made many claims against his longtime employer, including that Trump "authorized" the tax scheme, and that the organization only pretended to fire him to reduce their legal liability.
A recent report indicated that prosecutors are considering another set of charges against Weisselberg, in an attempt to secure further cooperation against the former president directly.
