Inside the years-long relationship between Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's top money man who may soon testify before Congress
Weisselberg, an accountant, is the chief financial officer at the Trump Organization. He avoids speaking to the media and is known to be extremely private.
Weisselberg started his career doing the books for Trump's father, Fred Trump, for his many real estate deals.
Source: The New York Times
In the late 1980s, he was working directly under Stephen Bollenbach, who was the Trump Organization's chief financial officer at the time.
Source: Business Insider
And in 2000, Weisselberg became the CFO of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts.
Source: Business Insider
Weisselberg also served as treasurer of the Trump Foundation, which is set to be dissolved following a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General's Office that alleged "persistently illegal conduct" involving the foundation for over a decade.
Source: Business Insider
"Allen is the one guy who knows everything," a former high-ranking Trump Organization executive told the New Yorker in 2016.
Source: Esquire, The New Yorker
Weisselberg is said to know more about the Trump Organization's financial dealings than anyone. Trump trusted him to sign off on details of some of the company's biggest deals.
Source: Bloomberg
In addition to his role as money man for Trump's business, Weisselberg also handled Trump's personal accounts at times.
Source: CNN
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to multiple crimes related to the coordination of hush-money payments to two women, said Weisselberg could answer questions about the $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The New York Times reported that Weisselberg knew the details of the payments and the reimbursements to Cohen since 2017.
Source: The New York Times
In a secretly recorded conversation before the 2016 election, Cohen can also be heard telling Trump he consulted with Weisselberg on how to coordinate payments to the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., to buy rights to a story about former Playboy model Karen McDougal's alleged affair with Trump.
Source: Business Insider
In August 2018, Weisselberg was granted immunity by federal prosecutors in exchange for grand jury testimony. It's unclear whether he will agree to appear before the House Intelligence Committee like Cohen.
Source: Business Insider
But many see Weisselberg to be the best positioned, as the Trump Organization's bookkeeper, to help investigators unravel whether Trump or his family members committed financial crimes that have not yet come to light.
Source: Business Insider
"Weisselberg was there at the genesis," Patrick Cotter, a longtime former federal prosecutor, said. "He knows this organization from the beginning. That's a star cooperating witness to have. He has the inside perspective, more than Cohen, more than anyone else. If you're Trump, that's the guy you don't want to cooperate."
Source: Business Insider
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