Trump Org. executive says he helped colleagues dodge taxes

NEW YORK (AP) — One of Donald Trump’s top moneymen admitted Thursday to breaking the law to help fellow Trump Organization executives avoid taxes on company-paid apartments and other perks, including by preparing misleading tax returns and failing to report the benefits to tax authorities.

Senior Vice President and Controller Jeffrey McConney testified at the company’s criminal tax fraud trial that he filed false tax returns on behalf of a father-son executive duo whose Manhattan apartment rents were paid by the Trump Organization.

McConney, who was granted immunity to testify as a prosecution witness, also testified that a few years before Trump became president, the company’s accountant raised concerns about the way it paid out holiday bonuses — a topic that has consumed hours of trial testimony.

According to McConney, the accountant warned that the Trump Organization's dubious and since-discontinued practice of splitting bonus payments between an executive's salary and one-time independent contractor payments from subsidiaries could jeopardize the law license of one such executive: its top lawyer.

The Trump Organization, the entity through which Trump owns hotels, golf courses and other assets, is accused of helping some top executives avoid income taxes on compensation they got in addition to their salaries.

The company, which could be fined more than $1 million if convicted, has denied wrongdoing. Its lawyers allege that another executive — longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg — went rogue, concocted the scheme without Trump or the Trump family’s knowledge and lied to the company about what he’d done.

Trump Organization lawyer Susan Necheles kept the jury's attention on Weisselberg as she questioned McConney on cross-examination Thursday afternoon, showing...