President Trump’s company is examining a shift in its financial leadership after an accusation of tax fraud was leveled against Allen Weisselberg.
The Trump Organization has removed its CFO Allen Weisselberg as an officer at “some of its subsidiaries,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
The move comes after prosecutors accused Weisselberg and the company of a 15-year tax fraud scheme.
But Weisselberg, who has worked for the Trump family since 1973, is reportedly expected to remain at the company.
A grand jury indicted the Trump Organization and Mr. Weisselberg on accusations that they ran a tax-fraud scheme since 2005 involving off-the-books payments—”fringe benefits”—to company executives like Weisselberg. The former CFO is alleged to have failed to pay state and federal taxes on roughly $1.7 million of additional compensation.
The Trump Organization and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court after being charged.
Moreover, Trump and his team have maintained that the years-long investigation is merely a “witch hunt” and that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is “running a politically motivated investigation rather than focusing on security concerns across the city,” according to Fox News.
“The District Attorney will try to convince the public that these charges are of great significance,” a spokesman for the organization said. “However, everyday New Yorkers and Americans know exactly what this is: an inappropriate use of a local prosecutor’s vast and unchecked power to target a political opponent.”
Trump Organization attorney Ron Fischetti called it a “sad day,” adding that the only reason the district attorney pursued the white-collar case was because of Trump’s person.
“I have never seen this office bring a case like this and, quite frankly, I am astonished,” Fischetti told Fox. “The District Attorney is supposed to be apolitical, but everyone knows that the only reason they are proceeding with this case is because it is ‘Trump.'”
