<p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/604fc5aafe6a340019acec9c-1375/donald-trump-jr-allen-weisselberg.jpg" border="0" alt="donald trump jr allen weisselberg" data-mce-source="TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="US President-elect Donald Trump along with his son Donald, Jr., arrive for a press conference at Trump Tower in New York, as Allen Weisselberg (C), chief financial officer of The Trump, looks on January 11, 2017. - As US President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen delivered hours of riveting testimony to a US House committee on February 27, 2019, one name came up again and again: Allen Weisselberg. Weisselberg, 71, is the publicity-shy chief financial officer of the Trump Organization and one of the real estate tycoon's oldest and closest advisors."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Jennifer Weisselberg, who Manhattan prosecutors are speaking with as part of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-prosecutors-may-be-in-end-stages-of-trump-probe-2021-3">a wide-ranging investigation into Donald Trump's finances</a>, says the former president instills loyalty in close aides through control.</p><p>"They control people by compensating you with homes and things," <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-wife-trump-org-executive-has-spoken-investigators-multiple-times-n1261459">Weisselberg said in an interview with NBC News published Friday</a>. "It's not easy to walk away when they provide your home."</p><p>Weisselberg has spoken with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-new-york-prosecutors-cy-vance-letitia-james-manhattan-da-2020-12#cyrus-vance-jr-1">prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office</a> "multiple times," she told NBC News. The office is examining <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tax-returns-explainer-donald-trump-organization-2021-2">the finances of Trump and the Trump Organization</a>. Court filings suggest investigators are looking into whether they broke tax laws by keeping two sets of books to receive both favorable loan terms and low tax rates, which <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-never-before-seen-trump-tax-documents-show-major-inconsistencies">ProPublica previously reported</a>.</p><p>Prosecutors in the office are trying to "flip" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allen-weisselberg-trump-organization-cfo-investigations-2021-3">Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization and personal bookkeeper of the Trump family's finances</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/weisselberg-investigation-vance/2021/03/03/84a9f3d6-7c25-11eb-a976-c028a4215c78_story.html">The Washington Post reported</a>. They've obtained millions of pages of documents about Trump's finances through subpoenas and want Weisselberg to guide them through the paperwork, according to the Post.</p><p>Jennifer Weisselberg, who divorced Allen Weisselberg's son Barry in 2018, may be helping prosecutors flip him. <br><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-02/trump-perks-for-weisselbergs-included-free-rent-tax-preparer">She told Bloomberg News in 2020</a> that she and Barry received an apartment from Trump when they got married in 2004 and didn't pay any rent for it. Prosecutors appear to be looking into whether Barry Weisselberg broke tax laws by miscategorizing the apartment on his filings, and whether those details could be used to secure Allen Weisselberg's cooperation. Allen Weisselberg's other son, Jack Weisselberg, also lived in the building for a time, according to property records reviewed by Insider.</p><p>"The likelihood of him cooperating goes up significantly if, in fact, the prosecutors have criminal charges that can reasonably be brought against his sons," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allen-weisselberg-trump-organization-cfo-investigations-2021-3">Jeff Robbins, a former federal prosecutor, previously told Insider</a>. "For the simple human reason that what father would not do something unpleasant in order to help his sons out of a legal jam'"</p><p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/605267f2fe6a340019acf340-2400/matthew calamari donald trump jr.jpg" border="0" alt="matthew calamari donald trump jr" data-mce-source="Bobby Bank/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Donald Trump Jr. and Matthew F. Calamari, COO The Trump Organization attend the Eric Trump Foundation's 6th Annual Golf Invitational Benefiting The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at Trump National Golf Club Westchester on September 10, 2012 in Briarcliff Manor, New York."></p><p>Allen Weisselberg has been one of Trump's most loyal employees, hired by Donald Trump's father Fred Trump in the 1970s and working for his family ever since.</p><p>His former daughter-in-law suggested to NBC News that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allen-weisselberg-trump-organization-cfo-investigations-2021-3">the extensive and unusual financial ties</a> between Trump's high-ranking employees and the Trump Organization itself may help explain that loyalty. Barry Weisselberg also runs the Wollman Rink, operated by the Trump Organization, in Central Park. Matthew Calamari, the COO of the Trump Organization and another loyal aide, also has an apartment at the Trump Parc View building and also has a son who works for the company.</p><p>"His office is right next door. He discusses everything with him," Jennifer Weisselberg told NBC News of her former father-in-law. "And Donald trusts him to continue the legacy the way his father set things up."</p><p>Jennifer Weisselberg also said she's speaking to the public because of a custody dispute with Barry Weisselberg over her two children.</p><p>"I have no reason to be here except that I am not a woman who is willing to live a life of secrecy, out of fear, any longer," she told NBC News. "They will out resource me in the courts forever, and I have tried to be graceful, and I have tried to handle this privately. And they are not agreeing to do so at all. What choice do I have'"</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jennifer-weisselberg-refuses-to-be-silenced-trump-investigation-manhattan-da-2021-3">Her lawyer also previously told Insider</a> that Jennifer Weisselberg "refuses to be silenced any longer by those who are conspiring to prevent her from sharing what she has learned over the past 25 years."</p><p>A representative for the Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jennifer-weisselberg-says-trump-controls-employees-by-giving-homes-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
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