Witnesses in the Trump Organization’s New York fraud case have already admitted that valuations for private residences are higher per foot than commercial property.
As the trial continues, his attorneys have called a former top executive of the Trump Organization, Jeff McConney, as a witness for the defense. Perhaps they didn’t expect him to break down in tears on the stand and admit that the former president’s Florida resort property was improperly valued at a higher-than-appropriate rate.
When Trump purchased Mar-a-Lago, he signed documents promising that he would never try to use it as a private residence, but would keep it as a business property — something that he’s admitted on the stand he didn’t really feel was binding. He also acknowledged that this lowered his tax rates.
On Tuesday, McConney admitted that the property was valued as a private residence in other documentation — a decision that inflated its dollar value.
Then, he was asked why he no longer works for the Trump Organization and began crying, according to The Messenger‘s Adam Klasfeld.
He complained that he’s unable to “relax” because he keeps facing allegations of misrepresentations of property values, and then dropped what might be a bombshell — if his statement is accurate.
McConney said he’s been subpoenaed by the Southern District of New York, only hours before his testimony.
It could mean that someone — Allen Weisselberg or Trump, perhaps — is about to face additional charges.
His statements, however, were unclear, and he could have been speaking about an earlier incident and mixing up charging entities, according to Law360‘s Stuart Bishop.
McConney received immunity in the previous probe of the Trump Organization, and admitted to committing acts of fraud himself, as he shared with investigators about the roles of Allen Weisselberg and others. The New Republic reported:
“McConney also admitted to helping fraudulently inflate the value of multiple Trump Organization real estate assets. One such property was the Seven Springs estate in Westchester, New York.”
At that time, McConney admitted he had valued the properties as though the development was complete, though completion was projected to be years away and the property eventually left Trump’s hands unfinished.
He also admitted that he had, at Weisselberg’s request, created false employee documentation for the CFO’s wife, who did not work for the company, to enable her to apply for Social Security benefits.
His new testimony suggests that he’s still facing repercussions for his own involvement (immunity in one probe does not mean a witness can’t be charged in a separate investigation) and may hint that others involved in the alleged fraud could face further charges, too.
