#allen-weisselberg — Public Fediverse posts

#WhenTheTaleWagsTheDog

*👉️Who says #DonaldJTrump is unpredictable? 👈️*

(6/n)

..."creative accounting," put mildly.--On the other hand, 👉 #Trump's also was found guilty: " #DonaldTrumpJr. and #EricTrump, possessed the “requisite intent to defraud,” in addition to top executives #AllenWeisselberg and #JeffreyMcConney...,"👈 * even though the half a bn USD fine was later tossed out by the #NY Court of Appeals. Also, he's been a convicted fellon and the first...

@Nonilex

*
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5463599-trump-fraud-case-appeals-court-tosses-penalty/

Also there’s #Exhibit36, in which #JeffMcConney describes in McConney’s own handwritten notes based on a conversation he had w/ #AllenWeisselberg. He testified #Exhibit35 contains on the left-hand side, Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting. McConney said, I know it’s his handwriting because I’ve worked w/him for 35 yrs.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney

#Steinglass says that defense is arguing that #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen assumed authority over large amounts of #Trump’s money. “That’s crazy,” Steinglass says. “Neither one had anywhere near that kind of authority.”

Steinglass attacks defense’s “false narrative” about #Trump not attending to his finances after he became president. He notes an assistant in the #WhiteHouse, #MadeleineWesterhout, testified Trump paid extremely close attention to his personal finances.

#law #TrumpTrial

#Steinglass refers to exhibits that #JeffreyMcConney, a longtime loyal #Trump employee, testified about: #AllenWeisselberg’s notes setting up the repayments.

Steinglass refers to these exhibits as “the smoking guns” of the prosecution’s argument, saying they “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen” was for legal services.

(see above exhibit 35)
link:
https://ww2.nycourts.gov/press/index.shtml
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Steinglass highlights #MichaelCohen’s testimony implicating #Trump in the charged #crimes. He shows jurors, using highlighted transcript pages, Cohen’s testimony that Trump not only approved the arrangement but was aware that the reimbursements would be classified as payments for #legal services.

Steinglass reminds jurors of the key role #AllenWeisselberg played for Trump. Weisselberg worked for Trump's father, #FredTrump, at the original #TrumpOrganization.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Steinglass discusses Jan 2017, the month #Trump was inaugurated. He describes a meeting between #MichaelCohen & #AllenWeisselberg who Cohen testified had made the arrangements to reimburse Cohen for the #HushMoney. “Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg & Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.

[this IS literal. The notes are written by hand on the wire transfer statement, #exhibit35]
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

Evidence including notes made by #AllenWeisselberg about how #MichaelCohen would be repaid for the #HushMoney, & an email that the defense just highlighted in its own closing referring back to the agreement.

#Blanche depicts #Trump as too distracted to focus on the matters of the checks & the payments. Cutting against a long-acknowledged #Trump trait: his proclivity for attention to minutiae in times of stress.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Blanche manipulates the phrase “retainer agreement.” He has insisted loudly that #MichaelCohen testified there was no retainer, multiple times. Then he gestures toward an email from #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization’s CFO, referencing an “agreement.” But that email says nothing about a “retainer agreement” specifically, & in fact, per Cohen’s testimony, refers back to his agreement w/ Weisselberg & #Trump to disguise reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

A NYT examination, based on court records & interviews w/a dozen people close to the case, explains #AllenWeisselberg’s absence & reveals a portrait of him as a company man who had a hand in some of #Trump’s shadiest dealings. He could have traded his knowledge for his freedom, but kept his mouth shut, choosing loyalty & lucre — he signed a multimillion-dollar severance deal — over liberty.

#law #criminal #TrumpTrial

In closing arguments Tues, Trump’s lawyers are expected to cast #AllenWeisselberg as the prosecution’s missing piece, an elusive central player…. They will likely try to argue to the #jury that the case depends on #MichaelCohen, whose testimony provided the only evidence that #Trump had direct knowledge of the plot to disguise the #HushMoney reimbursement as #legal fees

#law #criminal #TrumpTrial
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money-weisselberg.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

#Blanche moves on to the documents that prosecutors say were falsified. He suggests that everyone BUT #Trump — #AllenWeisselberg, #EricTrump, #DonaldTrumpJr & #MichaelCohen himself — may have falsified the docs, disguising them as repayments for #legal services. But not Trump himself, Blanche signals to the jury, w/o saying it outright.

The #SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#Blanche, predictably, is blaming #AllenWeisselberg, fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, for designing #MichaelCohen's reimbursements for the #HushMoney payment. Cohen had said that #Trump signed off on their payment scheme in a Jan 2017 meeting at #TrumpTower. Blanche got close to discussing that key testimony, but moved on.

There’s a lot about Weisselberg this morning. He’s currently in #jail for #perjury, & is one of a few people mentioned repeatedly who won’t testify.

#law #TrumpTrial

Back in the courtroom, jurors are seeing the documents that prosecutors say are false. Yesterday #MichaelCohen described the Jan meeting w/ #AllenWeisselberg, when #Trump heard Weisselberg say that the monthly payments would be a retainer for *legal services* It is that single line from a witness— the word “yes” —that most directly attaches Trump to the alleged #crimes. And the signatures on the checks from his personal bank account.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#MichaelCohen is going through check stubs for the first 2 checks & saying the descriptions of them were “false.” Cohen says both #EricTrump, who is sitting in the courtroom, & #AllenWeisselberg signed the first 2, from Trump’s revocable trust account. At some point, it switched to #Trump’s personal account.

Cohen is now testifying about checks Trump started signing himself, from his personal account.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen describes meeting w/ #Trump in the #OvalOffice in Feb 2017. He says that Trump asked him if he needed money, & that he said no, he didn’t need any extra. He said Trump asked him to “deal w/ Allen,” meaning #AllenWeisselberg, who arranged the repayment plan for the #HushMoney. Trump also said, Cohen testified, that he’d receive a check for both Jan & Feb.
Prosecutors display a picture of Cohen visiting the #WhiteHouse at the time.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference

Here is People's exhibit 35 — The First Republic Bank Statement w/ #AllenWeisselberg & #MichaelCohen handwritten notes

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #StormyDaniels #KarenMcDougal

We are finished for the day. #MichaelCohen has testified that #Trump directed him to make the #HushMoney payment & signed off on #AllenWeisselberg's plan to repay Cohen. Cohen will return to the stand on Tues, so prosecutors can conclude direct examination.

After that, it will be the defense's turn to cross-examine him.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#MichaelCohen says that #AllenWeisselberg said in front of #Trump that Cohen would be reimbursed completely. Cohen testifies that Trump approved the repayments & then said, “This is going to be one heck of a ride in DC.”

Cohen testifies that Trump, as president-elect, was busy w/meetings around this time. Yet he & Allen Weisselberg went into Trump's 26th floor office to discuss the reimbursement plan, he says.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

Add to this sum, Cohen was also given a $60k bonus, bringing the total he was to be paid to $420k. That amount was split — as shown in #AllenWeisselberg’s notes — into 12 months' of payments.

This #MichaelCohen testimony is crucial to the case. They allege that the repayments to Cohen were not, in fact, #legal expenses as indicated on the records & instead they were the #HushMoney payment "grossed up"

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

#AllenWeisselberg then doubled the $180k to $360k. Weisselberg, #MichaelCohen says, expected that he would lose half because it would be taxed as income, & was making him whole.

This goes to #motive, toward how badly #Trump wanted this hidden, it actually cost Trump 2X what it would have otherwise.

Also, legitimate legal expenses aren't "grossed up."

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference

We saw #AllenWeisselberg’s notes during Jeffrey McConney’s testimony, he worked under Weisselberg. But now, #MichaelCohen is testifying that he was in the room as Weisselberg made these notations on how to repay him for the #HushMoney, + his shrunken bonus. This document goes straight to the repayments to Cohen, & the false documents.

#Trump is charged w/ 34 #felony counts of falsifying business records: 11 checks, 11 invoices & 12 ledger entries.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill

#MichaelCohen testifies about the point of this whole trial: the false business records.

Cohen describes his notes w/ #TrumpOrganization CFO #AllenWeisselberg, the notes are working out how to make it so that it appears he was being paid for another matter, & on how he would be reimbursed.

Prosecution again shows to the court Weisselberg's handwritten notes on the reimbursement to Cohen.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen, describing his anger at seeing his bonus cut by two-thirds, almost sounds angry all over again. "I didn't expect more," he says of his bonus that year, 2016.
"But I certainly didn't expect less."

Cohen says he took his fury out on #AllenWeisselberg, #TrumpOrganization CFO, & that Weisselberg told him that he'd be taken care of after the holidays.

Trump briefly smiled, expressing pleasure, as Cohen described #Trump stiffing him on his bonus.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#MichaelCohen says #Trump “expressed to me, just do it. Meet up w/ #AllenWeisselberg, & figure it out. Allen & I spoke to Trump, I said I would front the money & he was appreciative.”

"I was doing everything that I could & more in order to protect my boss, which was something I had done for a long time," #MichaelCohen says. But he adds that he would not lay out $130k for a #HushMoney payment on someone else's behalf, indicating that he was expecting to be repaid.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#Trump, who was sleeping, wakes up, leans over, taps his lawyer Todd #Blanche & whispers something in his ear.

#MichaelCohen says he then decided that he would pay the money, & that #AllenWeisselberg said, "I'll make sure you get paid back." Cohen says he alerted Trump to that decision & that Trump was appreciative, saying "good, good." And he says that Trump, too, told him he'd be repaid.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

#MichaelCohen recalls that he & #AllenWeisselberg, spoke about possibly generating the $130k through a membership request or an event being held at a club.

Cohen is directly tying #Trump to the #HushMoney payment, corroborating the testimony of others, including #KeithDavidson & #HopeHicks, who said Cohen would never had made the payment w/o Trump's authorization. Cohen talks about Weisselberg helping him to think through how to make the payment.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

#MichaelCohen's testimony about #AllenWeisselberg's financial advice on the #KarenMcDougal deal explains why Cohen would go on to pay #StormyDaniels, borrowing against his home. He says Weisselberg told him not to go through the #TrumpOrganization -linking the payment to #Trump's company would defeat the purpose- but to come up w/other more creative ways to pay.

This will help prosecutors explain why Cohen made the #HushMoney payment in such a roundabout way.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial

Michael Cohen testifies that he - & everybody - at the #TrumpOrganization spoke to #AllenWeisselberg about financial transactions. Weisselberg, currently in #jail, was involved in coordinating the repayments to Cohen after Cohen paid #HushMoney to #StormyDaniels.

Cohen is emphatic that Weisselberg was involved in every deal no matter the size.

#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #MobTactics

Justice Merchan said before proceedings began that he would not allow in a piece of evidence related to #AllenWeisselberg, the fmr CFO of the #TrumpOrganization, who is currently in #jail.

Prosecutors had hoped to put in evidence his severance agreement that requires #Weisselberg still be loyal to #Trump, to help explain his absence at the trial. But the judge is saying he won’t allow it.

#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics

Prosecutors Reveal and Discuss Another Hush Money Contract with Allen Weisselberg
On Friday in Judge Juan Merchan's Manhattan court, prosecutors disclosed another "hush money" scheme brought to the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg.

Prosecutors revealed for the first time
https://newsviews.online/2024/05/11/prosecutors-reveal-and-discuss-another-hush-money-contract-with-allen-weisselberg/
#TrumpCriminalTrials #AllenWeisselberg #TrumpTrial