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Manhattan prosecutors called their first witness in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial on Monday — and immediately worked to impress upon jurors that this witness, the company’s auditor, is not on their team, but on Team Trump.
The less-than-ideal DA witness whose testimony continues Tuesday is Jeffrey McConey. As auditor, McConney has overseen payroll and tax reporting for the former president’s multibillion-dollar real estate and golf resort empire for 35 years.
Early in McConney’s testimony, lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked him how much Trump’s company still pays him — he answered $450,000 a year — and how he had stopped cooperating with prosecutors.
McConney told jurors he is actually meeting with the defense, which only led him into his testimony Sunday, a day before he took the stand.
“When you spoke to Mrs. Neheles this Sunday?” Steinglass asked, in an awkward confrontation, as he tried to reacquaint himself publicly with his own witness. Susan Necheles is one of the Trump Organization’s defense attorneys.
“Did he tell you to make sure you hit certain points?” Steinglass asked.
“I think so, yes,” replied McConney, a large, white-haired, moustached man.
“Did he tell you to word things a certain way?” pursued the prosecutor.
“I believe so,” McConey said again.
“You weren’t willing to discuss your statement with anyone from the DA’s office?” the prosecutor then asked — winning a defense objection that the judge sustained.
“For the past two weeks,” the prosecutor tried again, this time leaving out McConney’s “willingness” or any of his other feelings, “are you aware that your attorney has refused to make you available?”
McConney replied that he couldn’t remember well, but that if his lawyer advised him not to do something, then he generally didn’t do it.
And his lawyer? He was also paid by the Trump Organization, McConney testified.
Steinglass asked at that point to declare McConney a hostile witness, a designation that would have given the prosecutor the advantage of being allowed to ask leading, yes-or-no questions.
“His lawyer is actually being paid by the Trump Organization,” Steinglass argued to the judge, state Superior Court Judge Juan Merchan, outside the jury’s hearing. “This is the textbook definition of adverse witnesses.”
“He’s friendly,” countered Necheles, the defense attorney. “It answers every question.”
The judge agreed, explaining that a hostile witness statement “is about getting the witness to be open and honest and not hiding” and “at this point, I don’t think I have any basis to call him a hostile witness.”
McConney was allowed to continue his testimony, most of which is set for Tuesday.
Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization — the Trump Corporation, which employs its executives, and the Trump Payroll Corporation, which pays those executives — are charged in a 15-year tax evasion scheme.
The alleged plan was described during opening statements earlier Monday.
The two entities, which both operate as the Trump Organization, are accused by prosecutors of allowing executives to take significant amounts of their pay in the form of tax-free perks, such as rent-free Trump apartments and free use of luxury vehicles.
The defense denies any complicity in the alleged scheme and countered that they were indeed victims of the company and that no one at the top of the company was involved.
No one at the top — not even Donald Trump or any of his three oldest children — has been charged or required to appear in court for the trial, which is expected to last a month or more.
But Donald Trump’s name came up during McConey’s testimony.
At a critical moment, Steinglass questioned McConney when his boss, Allen Weisselberg — the company’s former chief financial officer and the DA’s most important witness — stopped receiving some pay in the form of a non-employee bonus.
Did that stop when Trump was elected president and transferred day-to-day operations to a revocable trust, an entity run by Eric Trump and Weiselberg, Steinglass asked.
“I think it was coincidental,” McConey replied.
“Did you say by coincidence?” Steinglass responded, more with a aloud, skeptical thought than an actual question.
McConney is testifying with immunity after testifying in a Manhattan court. References to his testimony in court documents show that he took responsibility for his actions and did not blame anyone at the top of the company.
Weiselberg stepped down as CFO following the indictment in the summer of 2021. He remains on the payroll with paid leave. His last reported salary was over $900,000. He is also not expected to incriminate anyone above him.
A third key prosecution witness from inside the company, whose name has not been released, also remains on Trump’s payroll and is cooperating with the defense instead of prosecutors, it was said during jury selection last week.
