Federal prosecutors granted an immunity deal to Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, in their probe that secured a guilty plea from Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, it was revealed Friday.
Weisselberg is the executive who runs the Trump Organization along with Don Jr. and Eric under a trust created by the president after the 2016 election.
He is both a bookkeeper and a key executive running the organization who is familiar with major aspects of the organization.
The Wall Street Journal reported his immunity deal – just a day after it was revealed National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has received an immunity deal himself. Both men were involved in talks to secure a $150,000 payment for a former Playboy model who claims she slept with Donald Trump.
CFO: Michael Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis said invoices were submitted to the chief financial officer – position held by Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg
Cohen spoke to Weisselberg about negotiations with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
‘I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up. So, I’m all over that. And, I spoke to Allen about it,” Cohen told Trump in a tape recording from September 2016 obtained by CNN.
And Weisselberg was identified as the executive from whom Cohen sought reimbursement from company funds after using a home equity loan to pay $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels.
It was not immediately clear what was the extent or nature of the immunity deal he secured. Weisselberg was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury investigating Cohen earlier this year.
His grant of immunity may have been related to cooperation in limited matters relating to Cohen. But word of the immunity deal raised immediate prospects that prosecutors had secured the cooperation of someone with intimate knowledge of how the Trump Organization operates.
WIRED: Daniels got $130,000 that an LLC set up by Cohen wired to her lawyer
Weisselberg began working for Trump’s father, Fred, in the 1970s. He also worked on the board of the Trump Foundation – the subject of a probe in New York, while serving on the board of the Miss Universe pageant, which Trump previously owned.
The elder Trump hired him as an accountant right out of college.
“He is deeply passionate, fiercely loyal and has stood alongside my father and our family for over [three] decades,’ Ivanka told the Wall Street Journal in a 2016 profile of him. A former Trump executive said in the article Weisselberg would handle household expenses, along with purchases of boats and planes, for Trump.
Authorities in New York State have subpoenaed Cohen in connection to their own probe of the Trump Foundation.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators handed off the Cohen case to the Southern District of New York. Previous reports have shown investigators have shown an interest in some Trump Organization business that Weisselberg may conceivably have information about, such as discussion of a Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 campaign.
News of Weisselberg’s immunity deal comes a day after it was revealed American Media Inc. publisher David Pecker received immunity. Pecker’s firm paid McDougal $150,000 and promised magazine covers and work in exchange for the ‘life rights’ of her story about an affair with a married man.
Cohen communicated with the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization when successfully seeking reimbursement for his $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, his attorney revealed this week.
Both Daniels and McDougal claims they had affairs with Trump, which he denies.
Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis mentioned Weisselberg, the powerful Trump Organization CFO, in an interview onCNN Wednesday, after government charging documents revealed that two different executives had knowledge of the payments.
News of Weisselberg’s immunity deal comes a day after it was revealed American Media Inc. publisher David Pecker received immunity
Cohen forwarded his first invoice in February, 2017 to a person identified only as ‘Executive-1’ – and who passed it on to ‘Executive-2’ for approval.
Davis revealed that the invoices went to the person ‘who was the controller, the individual, the chief financial officer.’
Interviewer Wolf Blitzer then aided Davis in his brief memory lapse by noting Allen Weisselberg is the powerful CFO who had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury.
Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, then got reimbursed $420,000, making sure he wouldn’t get hit with a tax bill that would apply to income. He also got a $60,000 bonus
‘Weisselberg,’ Davis replied – before observing that ‘I always have a problem,’ likely with recalling or pronouncing certain names.
Davis then backtracked: ‘I’m guessing, and I don’t know that the invoices were sent to Mr. Wesselberg.’
Weisselberg is the executive who runs the Trump Organization along with Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Weisselberg, an accountant and key figure who spent decades working for Trump, made payments to Cohen but did not know about Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, citing a source familia with his thinking.
The Trump Organization did not respond to requests Wednesday and Thursday about who Cohen’s invoices were directed to.
But the process he followed was laid out in detail by the government under the section headed ‘campaign finance violations’ in the charging document.
Michael Cohen attorney Lanny Davis identified the Trump Organization CFO as getting the invoices, then hedged that he didn’t know
Cohen set up an LLC and wired $130,000 to the porn star’s attorney on Oct. 27, 2016.
In January 2017, Cohen sought reimbursement from the Trump Organization. He provided a bank statement reflecting the $130,000, plus a $35 wire fee, which further established what the payment was for.
He hand wrote an additional ‘$50,000,’ according to the charging document, claiming payment for ‘tech services.’
Executives then ‘grossed up’ the total so that Cohen wouldn’t have to incur taxes, to $360,000. They also added a bonus of $60,000, for a total of $420,000.
Weisselberg is the executive who runs the Trump Organization along with Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. (pictured) and Eric Trump. The charging documents did not identify any of the executives mentioned by name, and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment
On Valentine’s Day, 2017, Cohen sent ‘Executive-1 his first invoice ‘pursuant to a retainer agreement.’
It was for ‘services rendered,’ billing $35,000 for each of two months.
The exec forwarded the invoice to ‘Executive-2’ that same day via email. This exec sent it to another Trump employee, adding: ‘Please pay from the Trust. Post to legal expenses. Put “retainer for the months of January and February 2017” in the description.’
The Trust likely refers to the Trust Donald Trump set up for his holdings after the election, which is being overseen by his two sons and Weisselberg.
The document says Cohen later sent invoices to ‘one or more representatives of the Company’ monthly.
However, ‘in truth and in fact, there was no such retainer agreement, and the monthly invoices COHEN submitted were not in connection with any legal services he had provided in 2017.’
Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign violations has raised questions about whether any other person or entity who ‘coordinated’ with him might get charged. Justice Department guidelines state that a sitting president can’t get charged.
Another corporation involved with payments to women negotiated by Cohen, American Media Inc., may have received another form of protection. The Wall Street Journal reported that AMI’s CEO David Pecker had gotten an immunity agreement. The firm said it was cooperating with prosecutors.