Why a Trump loyalist went to jail rather than blame the boss

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Allen Weisselberg worked for former President Donald Trump for decades (file image)

Former US President Donald Trump’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, has been sentenced to five months in prison for his role in a tax evasion scheme.

Weisselberg, 75, received a shorter-than-expected prison sentence after accepting a plea deal in which he witnessed the prosecutor’s case against the Trump Organization.

But Mr. Trump had little reason to fear that Weisselberg’s testimony at the fall trial would harm him or overshadow his announcement in mid-November that he was launching another presidential race.

Indeed, as expected, his employee – who started with his father Fred Trump and was one of the first to join his company in 1986 – remained loyal even under immense pressure.

As Mr. Trump chimed in on social media, pinning the fraud scheme on Weisselberg, he continued to offer his support to him in arguably more meaningful ways. Jurors heard how the Trump Organization still paid Weisselberg his same salary as senior counsel, covering his legal fees, and recently celebrated his birthday in office.

“In a normal organization, a corrupt CFO would be fired and kicked out,” says Professor Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School of Business. “And you would want to separate and preserve the integrity of the institution. In this case, it’s the exact opposite.”

The trial provided fascinating insight into the relationship between the loyal lieutenant and his boss – as well as the efforts of prosecutors to try to turn one against the other by threatening Weisselberg with a lengthy sentence at Rikers Island.

Weisselberg is expected to report to the infamous New York City jail to begin serving his sentence immediately.

His lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, said after Tuesday’s hearing: ‘He deeply regrets the error in judgment which resulted in his conviction, and he regrets it above all because of the pain it has caused his well-behaved wife. -beloved, to her sons and to her wonderful grandchildren.”

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As part of the plea deal, Weisselberg admitted to 15 crimes, including tax evasion, and must pay nearly $2 million ($1.65 million) in fines on top of the five-month prison sentence. .

But without the agreement, he could have faced up to 15 years in prison.

But despite prosecutors’ attention on Mr. Trump, Weisselberg has refused to cooperate with the larger investigation into the former president and his business practices.

The question of what Mr. Trump potentially knew about executives misleading tax authorities and misreporting benefits became a persistent and sensitive question throughout the trial, given that he was not personally accused of wrongdoing.

Weisselberg prepared his testimony with the prosecution and defense, an unusual arrangement. Lawyers for the Trump Organization repeatedly argued during the trial that he was motivated by greed and that “Weisselberg did it for Weisselberg.” The defense strategy, in a nutshell, was that the former CFO was not fired because he was seen as a member of the family, “a prodigal son”.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors painstakingly tried to extract concessions from Weisselberg to bolster their case, while digging holes in his story that Mr. Trump and the company knew nothing of his tax avoidance scheme. 15 years old. They told the jury how Weisselberg joined Mr. Trump from day one and rose from accountant to controller to chief financial officer. He had in-depth knowledge of all the financial workings of the business as it grew. His testimony was key in exposing corruption and fraud within the Trump Organization and provided insight into how the family operates.

On the stand, he cried when asked: “Did you betray the trust that was placed in you?”

“I did,” he replied.

Defense attorney Alan Futerfas continued: “Are you embarrassed by what you did?”

“More than you can imagine,” he replied.

The man Mr Trump once described as tough on candidates on an episode of The Apprentice, his former reality show, appeared shy and nervous.

A source familiar with the matter insists Weisselberg’s testimony under oath was truthful and that he chose not to make up stories about Mr Trump. “It’s just common moral decency. And it’s also consistent with the rule of law, you shouldn’t lie about someone and then offer to give that testimony, which is perjury, just to improve your own legal situation after screwing up in order to try and get a reduced sentence,” the source told the BBC.

His determination to blame, however, did not convince the jury, who unanimously decided to convict the Trump Organization. It also didn’t convince former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, who felt the 75-year-old was very scared. “He hoped he could appease Donald Trump with his testimony. And I took those tears to feel sorry for myself lest he be kicked out of Trump World,” Mr. Epner said.

Professor Schweitzer said the dynamics at play in this lawsuit were consistent with Mr Trump’s management style, what academics call a “dominant” leader.

“There are basically two types of leaders, there are leaders who gain status because of their expertise, wisdom, and ability, and there are leaders who maintain their position of power because of their domination,” says Professor Schweitzer.

“Basically, they pull levers of rewards and punishments to coerce or compel people to do what they want.”

Mr. Trump has succeeded throughout his business and political career by finding “loyalty levers to reward his friends and hammer his enemies”, says Professor Schweitzer.

The former president has a habit of rewarding those who support him and attacking those who don’t. Before leaving office, he pardoned several of his former aides from their convictions, including his national security adviser Michael Flynn, his ex-adviser Roger Stone and his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

On social media, President Trump praised Manafort for not “breaking” like his former attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen and Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, were convicted in the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, but both cooperated with prosecutors. To no one’s surprise, they were not pardoned by Mr. Trump.

Weisselberg supports Mr. Pence and the former president at Trump Tower in New York in 2017

The former president’s treatment of Mike Pence is another example of how he places loyalty above other values. Mr. Trump allegedly told the former vice president not to “let go” and certify the results of the 2020 election, according to an excerpt from Mr. Pence’s book. He says Mr. Trump asked him, “If this gives you power, why would you oppose it?”

Prof Schweitzer says Mr Trump and Weisselberg were shaped by the 1980s era in New York and the mindset that greed is good. “Greed was celebrated and endorsed in a way it isn’t today, we had different mindsets about this wild west of capitalism,” he says. “Things that we say are illegal were common practice. These men really enjoyed the privileges that came with being a very powerful and wealthy person in the 1980s who wasn’t constrained by the rules that bound us to the rest of us.”

Mr. Epner agrees. “New York’s real estate industry has been bad business for not decades, but centuries. And it [Mr Trump] was an integral part of the dirty part of New York’s real estate industry, then he shone the world’s biggest spotlight on himself [with the presidency].”

On the final day of the trial, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said in closing statements that the evidence showed Mr. Trump knew exactly what was going on. He reminded the jury of that evidence, including a memo initialed by the former president authorizing a pay cut for another executive for the exact amount of his benefit, the rent paid by the company.

“Mr. Trump explicitly sanctions tax evasion! That’s what this document shows,” Steinglass said.

For many, this begged the question of why the former president, who built his entire reputation and bravado on the back of his eponymous company, was not charged as well. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said investigations into Mr. Trump were ongoing.

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