The prosecution in the Trump Organization criminal tax trial has rested its case early.
They are largely pinning their hopes for convicting Donald Trump’s company on the word of two top executives, Allen Weisselberg, the company’s longtime finance chief, and Jeffrey McConney, a senior vice president and controller.
Both cut deals before testifying that they schemed to avoid taxes on company-paid perks.
The Trump Organization’s lawyers opened their defence by calling to the witness stand Donald Bender, a partner at Mazars USA, the accountant who handled tax returns and other financial matters for Trump, the Trump Organization and hundreds of Trump entities since the 1980s.
Trump blamed Bender and Mazars for the company’s troubles, writing on his Truth Social platform last week: “The highly paid accounting firm should have routinely picked these things up – we relied on them. VERY UNFAIR!”
