In a covert financial move, a former high-ranking official from the Trump Organization has reportedly pocketed a hefty $2.4 million severance package. The catch? A tacit agreement to maintain absolute silence on matters involving the organization.
According to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, former Chief Financial Officer for the Trump Organization, Allen Weisselberg, accepted a $2.4 million severance package laden with conditions aimed at securing his silence as ex-President Donald Trump confronts legal challenges in New York, showcasing his penchant for employing quid-pro-quo tactics to avoid accountability.
Rubin uncovered screenshots of the restrictive severance terms, preventing Weisselberg from communicating or cooperating with anyone making adverse claims against the Trump Organization. What’s raising eyebrows is the timing – the deal was inked just a day before Weisselberg’s sentencing in a separate tax evasion case involving the Trump Organization earlier in the year.
We learned yesterday that Allen Weisselberg's severance agreement will ultimately pay him $2 million by 12/31/24 if he fully complies. What I didn't appreciate is what he promised in return: 1/ pic.twitter.com/ZSOxWIqhIu
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) October 11, 2023
Former federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe explained that cooperation and non-disclosure clauses are not uncommon in employer-drafted severance agreements, serving to shield information from public scrutiny. In Trump’s case, McAuliffe highlighted the strategic intent of inhibiting a key figure like Weisselberg from easily disclosing information about Trump.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of fraudulently inflating his net worth and property values, including his Mar-a-Lago residence, in a civil fraud case. Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are also implicated in James’ lawsuit.
Weisselberg, taking the witness stand in Trump’s civil fraud trial, admitted awareness of the inflation of Trump Tower’s square footage on financial statements.
Throughout the civil fraud trial, Trump vehemently maintains his innocence, consistently criticizing James and Judge Arthur Engoron overseeing the proceedings. Trump contends that the trial is a politically motivated “Election Interference Witch Hunt,” calling for New York State intervention to halt what he perceives as a “total travesty of Justice” in his fervent bid to sidestep accountability.
“By any other Judge in New York, the trial brought by the Corrupt and Racist A.G., Peekaboo James, would be dismissed and over. This case should never have been allowed to be brought – I have NO RIGHTS, & DON’T EVEN GET, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, A JURY. Peekaboo has misrepresented values to the judge, like Mar-a-Lago being worth only $18,000,99,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this week.
“I am worth much more than my Financial Statements, so there can be NO FRAUD! I have a 100% Disclaimer Clause, so again, there can be NO FRAUD! This trial is an Election Interference Witch Hunt, and everybody knows it. New York State should intercede and stop this total travesty of Justice,” he claimed in another post.
