- Donald Trump called his CFO Allen Weisselberg his "Jewish CPA," according to a new book.
- The revelation comes from Weisselberg's ex-daughter-in-law's interview with prosecutors.
Former President Donald Trump called his company's former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg his "Jewish CPA" and pressured him to "make me happy, or else," according to an interview Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law gave to the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Trump's language was quoted by Jennifer Weisselberg in an interview with investigators from the Manhattan prosecutor's office, according to a forthcoming book by ex-prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. Jennifer described how Allen Weisselberg received lavish benefits from the Trump Organization without paying taxes on them, according to the book.
"As for Trump's view of Allen Weisselberg, Jennifer claimed to have heard Trump tell Weisselberg that 'you know what to do, my Jewish CPA ... make me happy, or else,'" Pomerantz wrote in his book, a copy of which Insider obtained.
Allen Weisselberg worked for the Trump Organization for decades, rising to the role of CFO and managing the personal finances of Trump's family members. Prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney's office have sought his cooperation for their long-running investigation into Trump's finances, which remains ongoing.
Despite his extensive business management experience, Weisselberg does not actually hold a certified public accountant license, or CPA, according to New York state records.
In interviews with Insider in early 2021, Jennifer Weisselberg described how she gave "boxes of documents," obtained through her messy divorce from Allen Weisselberg's son Barry Weisselberg, to investigators at the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general offices. She said Trump controlled high-level employees like Allen Weisselberg by covering things like tuition, apartments, and other perks, and at the same time allowing both the company and the employees to avoid paying taxes.
Jennifer Weisselberg also said the pace of the criminal investigation into the Trump Organization picked up once Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney at the time, hired Pomerantz to oversee the case. Pomerantz is a renowned prosecutor-turned-white-collar-defense-lawyer, whom Vance appointed as a special counsel for the district attorney's office.
Weisselberg plead guilty to fraud charges
The Manhattan district attorney's office filed criminal fraud charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization in July 2021, alleging they dodged taxes by keeping two sets of books.
Pomerantz, along with fellow prosecutor Carey Dunne, quit the office in early 2022. In a resignation letter, he said he was frustrated with the decision by Alvin Bragg, who took over the district attorney's office in January 2022, not to pursue charges against Trump personally. (New York Attorney General Letitia James has a separate, pending civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization, as well as against Trump and his family members who have controlled the company.)
The Manhattan district attorney's office went ahead with the charges they had already filed, securing a guilty plea from Weisselberg. In November, the former executive testified at trial against the Trump Organization, which was found guilty. Weisselberg's testimony, however, was equivocal to the point where the prosecutors who called him to the stand criticized his reliability.
Weisselberg was slavishly committed to Trump, Pomerantz wrote, citing Jennifer Weisselberg's interview with investigators. He regularly flew down to Florida from his home in New York to attend to Trump's needs, Pomerantz wrote.
"She said — prophetically, as it turned out — that Weisselberg's whole self-worth depended on Trump liking him and making him feel worthy, so he would 'never' turn on Trump," Pomerantz wrote in his book.
Pomerantz's book, titled "People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account," has drawn criticism from Bragg, who has stressed the Trump Organization investigation is ongoing. Last week, the district attorney's office reportedly empaneled a grand jury weighing whether to bring criminal charges against Trump related to his hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 election to women who said they had affairs with him.
"I haven't read the book, and won't comment on any ongoing investigation because of the harm it could cause to the case," Bragg told Insider in a statement. "But I do hope there is at least one section where Mr. Pomerantz recognizes his former colleagues for how much they have achieved on the Trump matter over the last year since his departure."
In a statement Friday, the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, made up of district attorneys for each county, also expressed concern that Pomerantz's book could imperil the investigation.
"A former prosecutor speaking out during an ongoing criminal investigation, that he was a part of, is unfortunate and unprecedented," the group said in the statement. "Prosecutors are supposed to speak in court, where there are rules of evidence and a jury to rule on the facts. By writing and releasing a book in the midst of an ongoing case, the author is upending the norms and ethics of prosecutorial conduct."