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Federal prosecutors suspected Trump Organization CFO lied to them in Michael Cohen hush-money case, report says

Aug 11, 2021, 20:59 IST
Business Insider India
Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg exits after his arraignment hearing in New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., July 1, 2021. Brendan McDermid/Reuters
  • Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg testified for federal prosecutors in 2018.
  • Prosecutors think he may have lied in testimony he gave in the Michael Cohen case, according to CNN.
  • But federal prosecutors in Manhattan haven't charged Weisselberg with perjury.
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Federal prosecutors have doubts about whether Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg told them the truth in testimony he provided for an investigation into Michael Cohen, according to CNN, which cites four people familiar with prosecutors' thinking.

Weisselberg gave testimony to federal prosecutors in Manhattan in early 2018 about the Trump Organization's role in facilitating hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who said she had an affair with Donald Trump.

Cohen, then a personal lawyer for Trump and vice president at the company, paid Daniels directly, and then the Trump Organization reimbursed him, prosecutors said in court filings.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations related to the hush-money scheme as well as an array of other financial crimes. He has since become a vocal critic of his former boss.

Weisselberg is now under indictment in a different case, run out of the state-level Manhattan district attorney's office. Those prosecutors alleged in July that Weisselberg and the Trump Organization ran a 15-year scheme to evade paying taxes on $1.7 million of income. Weisselberg and lawyers for the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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Investigators have sought to flip Weisselberg into cooperating in a larger case about whether Trump was personally involved in wrongdoing, and whether the company was guilty of other financial crimes Cohen has alleged.

Prosecutors in the federal investigation gave Weisselberg immunity for his testimony about Cohen. But according to CNN, they have doubts about his claims regarding how the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen. Prosecutors also have doubts about claims regarding the Trump Organization's operations from other employees who testified, CNN reported.

The federal prosecutors ultimately decided not to bring perjury charges against Weisselberg or take back the immunity granted to him, CNN reported. Weisselberg's name did not appear in charging documents filed in the Cohen case.

Mary Mulligan, an attorney for Weisselberg, told CNN that he fully cooperated with the federal investigation.

"The SDNY charged Michael Cohen with campaign finance and tax violations, and then closed its investigation more than two years ago," she said.

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