Weiselberg said Donald Trump, or at times Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr., signed checks to pay up to $100,000 in private school tuition for Weiselberg’s grandchildren. Weiselberg said he then instructed the company’s auditor to deduct $100,000 from his salary, allowing him to report less income. Copies of some of the checks signed by the Trumps have been produced in court. Weiselberg said that the first time Trump signed a check for the tuition, Weiselberg told him, “Don’t forget, I’m going to pay you for it.” The payback, he said, was the pay cut. Two Trump Organization entities and Weisselberg are charged with more than a dozen counts of fraud and tax evasion. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in August to charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that accused him of receiving more than $1.7 million in untaxed compensation. Weiselberg, who is still on the Trump Organization’s payroll, in the first two days of his testimony described a series of benefits he and several other executives received that he said were similarly cut to avoid paying taxes. He said for him and many other executives, the pay cuts were then offset by hefty bonus checks paid to the executives as if they were independent contractors for Trump Organization entities. “Donald Trump always wanted to sign the bonus checks” before he became president in 2017, Weiselberg said. That practice stopped over the next two years after an internal review led to changes at the company, he said. “We were going through a company-wide cleanup process, making sure that since Mr. Trump was now president, everything was done right,” Weiselberg said. Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is testifying at the company’s trial on fraud charges in New York. Jane Rosenberg Weisselberg said the funds delivered as independent contractor payments were used to set up Keogh retirement plans, tax-deferred retirement accounts designed for people who are self-employed. Defense attorneys for the Trump Organization said the company did nothing wrong and laid the scheme at Weiselberg’s feet, saying he hid salary cuts and independent contractor payments from the Trumps. Trump Organization lawyer Alan Futerfas asked Weiselberg on Thursday, “Which person did you associate with?” Weiselberg replied, “Jeff McConney,” referring to the company’s auditor, who previously testified during the trial. McConney was granted immunity in exchange for grand jury testimony in the case and blamed Weisselberg for the scheme. Futerfas continued with questions that sought to differentiate the Trumps from the executives who worked under them. “Did you collude with any member of the Trump family?” asked Futherface. “No,” Weiselberg replied. “Did you work with Jeff McConney?” asked Futherface. “Yes,” Weiselberg replied. “Did you work with any member of the Trump family?” asked Futherface. “No,” Weiselberg replied. Later, Futherface asked, “Besides family members, you were one of the most trusted people they knew. Is that right?” “Right,” Weiselberg replied. Immediately after, Furface asked, “Are you ashamed of what you did?” Choked, Weiselberg replied, “More than you can imagine.” Earlier Thursday, Weiselberg said under questioning by a prosecutor that other company executives were active participants and beneficiaries of similar salary and bonus deals. Weisselberg described arranging for his son Barry’s family to live in a newly renovated apartment on New York’s tony Central Park South. He said the location was convenient for Barry Weisselberg’s job as manager of the ice rink and carousel run by the Trump Organization in Central Park. Allen Weiselberg said his son paid $500 out of pocket and $500 from his salary a month to rent the apartment, which he described as a “below market” rate. At the time, Allen Weiselberg and his wife were living in an $8,200-a-month apartment owned by a company under a lease signed by Donald Trump himself. Allen Weiselberg said he provided his son’s tax documents for preparation to the outside accountant responsible for the Trump Organization’s entire annual tax bill. Allen Weiselberg said his son’s reported salary at the time “was probably lower than it should have been.” Peter Stambleck, an attorney for Barry Weisselberg, declined to comment.

Graham Cates

Graham Cates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy and information security issues for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]