Trump Org's ex-CFO says Eric Trump will decide if he'll get his annual $500,000 bonus after his testimony in the criminal trial
John Moore/Getty Images
- Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg said he's still on the Trump payroll.
- Weisselberg testified in court that Eric Trump will decide if he gets his annual $500,000 bonus.
- Weisselberg is the prosecutors' key witness in the criminal tax-fraud trial of Donald Trump's company.
The Trump Organization's former top money man told a Manhattan jury that Eric Trump will decide if he gets this year's $500,000 bonus — but that decision will only come after his testimony in the company's ongoing criminal tax-fraud trial.
Allen Weisselberg — the Trump Organization's ex-CFO and the prosecution's key witness in the high-profile New York Supreme Court trial — began testifying Tuesday, revealing that he's still earning $640,000 this year as a "special advisor" for Trump's real-estate and golf-resort empire.
He's been on paid leave — meaning collecting that salary for doing nothing — since October, he told the trial's mostly middle-class jurors.
Asked by a prosecutor if he still expects to receive his annual $500,000 bonus this year, which is paid on top of his salary, Weisselberg replied, "I don't know yet."
"Who decides if you get that bonus?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Weisselberg in the lower Manhattan courtroom, prompting him to reply, "Eric Trump," who is one of Donald Trump's three sons.
Weisselberg, who has pleaded guilty to the tax-dodge scheme, said that whether he gets his bonus or not won't be decided until December.
"A few weeks after your testimony?" Hoffinger asked Weisselberg, who then answered, "Yes."
Prosecutors in the case allege that the Trump Organization ran a 15-year scheme to help top executives cheat on their taxes.
Weisselberg has admitted to masterminding the scheme and to pocketing $1.7 million in tax-free perks over 15 years, including Mercedes-Benz luxury cars for him and his wife, free use of Trump-branded apartments on Manhattan's Hudson River, and tuition for his grandkids' private schools.
He agreed to testify truthfully about his own role in the scheme as part of his August plea deal.
Under the deal, Weisselberg must serve five months in jail and pay back $2 million.
This is a breaking story; please check back for developments.