Trump’s ‘quiet’ exec who handles his financial documents has ALREADY testified to the grand jury with first-hand knowledge of the discussions between the president and CFO Allen Weisselberg
- Jeff McConney joined the Trump Organization in 1987 and rose to become senior vice president and controller
- He is believed to be the first senior employee to testify before Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence against Trump
- Insiders said he was ‘not a blabber’ and has been a loyal servant to Trump and his business for decades
- His position means he has access to key financial documents and is a trusted insider
- ‘He takes instruction well, and has followed orders faithfully and very carefully,’ said a member of Trump World
Jeff McConney has a reputation in Trump World as a loyal foot soldier of 34 years standing, whose own family has followed him into the Trump Organization and who has seen all the most important documents.
Now he is emerging as one of the key witnesses as prosecutors go after former President Donald Trump.
He has already testified before a grand jury empanelled by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to hear evidence against Trump and his business, according to multiple reports, but insiders are confident he will not flip on his boss.
As senior vice president and controller at the Trump Organization he would have prepared documents such as asset evaluations or taxes for Trump himself and chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.
‘Think of the Trump Organization as a small, one-teller bank,’ Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer told The Daily Beast.
‘Donald would be the president. Allen would be the branch manager.
‘Jeff would be the teller. Every single transaction was booked through McConney.’
Jeff McConney (center) has testified before a Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence against former President Donald Trump and his business. McConney is senior vice president and controller at the Trump Organization, giving him a key role in preparing financial documents. He is pictured here in 2011 with Donald Bender (left), the Trump Organization’s tax accountant at Mazars USA
Insiders say Trump is not worried about the Manhattan investigation, but in public he has railed against the ‘witch-hunt’ which he says is designed to wreck his presidential ambitions
Reports suggest prosecutors want to ‘flip’ Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, seen here in 2017 behind President Trump and his son Don Jr.
That makes him a crucial figure for an investigation reportedly probing whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of assets when it was seeking loans, but reduced them when calculating tax liabilities.
Insiders say Trump is unworried by the investigations, dismissing them more as a costly irritant than a threat to his business or political future.
And they told the Daily Beast that McConney had a reputation for loyalty and keeping his mouth shut. ‘Not a blabber,’ is how one source put it.
The result is little fear that he will turn on his boss.
‘He takes instruction well, and has followed orders faithfully and very carefully,’ another of the sources said.
Yet his understanding of the paper trail is reportedly vast.
The extent of his knowledge of Trump’s finances was revealed in depositions six years ago, when Weisselberg gave evidence about the collapse of Trump University.
Documents obtained by the New York Daily News showed that Weisselberg took care of payroll payments.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. is stepping down at the end of the year, putting time pressure on the probe. Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg faces pressure following reports that the company paid expensive private school tuition for his grandchildren
‘Jeff McConney took care of the actual movement of money,’ he said.
The Trump Organization’s process for moving large sums of money outside was for McConney to ‘prepare a memorandum that we have to move money,’ and then either Allen or Trump would approve or deny the request.
Trump described some of the process in a 2007 issue of Worth magazine, in which he praised his in-house advisers including McConney and Weisselberg
‘I listen to what they have to say, and make my own decisions in the final analysis,’ he said. ‘I know the responsibility rests with me, but I have excellent people and I respect their input.’
McConney’s LinkedIn page says he joined the Trump Organization in 1987.
And insiders said he maintained an unflashy lifestyle, commuting by train from the New Jersey home he bought when he started the job.
He often wears his loyalty around his neck in the form of a Trump brand tie.
And while others go out for lunch, he has his at his desk or watching golf with mid-level executives in a conference room.
Just as Trump makes his business a family affair, McConney’s son followed him into the company.
Justin McConney was assistant editor to the Trump-owned Miss Universe and Miss USA beauty pageants in 2009 and, later, worked on Trump’s reality TV show, The Apprentice – and for a brief time was known as the ‘Trump Twitter whisperer’ as the adviser who helped Trump build his social media presence from a few hundred thousand into the millions strong behemoth that helped win the 2016 election.
All of which puts the elder McConney in investigators’ sights.
‘McConney is supposed to be in charge of all financial and accounting controls. That’s what he does,’ Marty Shiel, a retired IRS special agent, told the Daily Beast.
‘If somebody is cooking the books, he almost has to be involved. If Weisselberg is the chief chef cooking the books, McConney has to be the sous chef.’
Who’s who in New York criminal probes into Trump: His longtime CFO, the ‘quiet money man’ and two Democrat AGs
New York state has opened a criminal investigation into former US president Donald Trump (pictured November 2020)
A Democratic prosecutor nearing the end of his term, a loyal lieutenant of the Trump family and a lawyer determined to sink his former boss: AFP details some of the players in New York’s criminal probe into Donald Trump.
Cyrus Vance
The 66-year-old Democrat has been Manhattan District Attorney since 2010. He was the first to launch a criminal investigation into the Republican ex-president.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (pictured May 2020) has doggedly pursued Donald Trump, winning a years-long battle to obtain his tax records and deploying significant human and financial resources to the politically sensitive investigation
Vance, whose father was US Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, has sometimes been accused of a reluctance to prosecute the rich and powerful.
He delayed filing charges against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein before securing a landmark conviction last year.
Vance has doggedly pursued Trump, though, first by winning a years-long battle to obtain his tax records and secondly by deploying significant human and financial resources to the politically sensitive investigation.
He has announced that he will not run for a fourth term when his current one expires in December, and many observers expect him to go out with a bang by filing what would be the first indictment against a former US president.
Letitia James
The Democrat became the first Black woman to become New York state attorney general in 2018.
Since then, the 62-year-old has forged a reputation as a combative and independent prosecutor, filing countless civil actions against large companies, particularly tech giants, and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
In addition to Donald Trump, Letitia James (pictured August 2020) is also investigating New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, over sexual harassment allegations and his response to the coronavirus pandemic
When Trump was in the White House, James launched dozens of civil actions against his government.
She is also investigating New York’s powerful Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, over sexual harassment allegations and his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
James has been cited as a possible successor to Cuomo, particularly if her investigation forces him to resign.
Allen Weisselberg: Trump Organization CFO
The 73-year-old is the Trump Organization’s long-serving chief financial officer and one of the family’s most loyal servants.
He began as an accountant for Trump’s father’s company before joining the Trump Organization as financial controller in the 1980s when Donald established himself as a Manhattan real estate mogul.
Allen Weisselberg, pictured standing behind former president Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. in January 2017, has served as the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization since the 1980s
Weisselberg has been around for all of Trump’s entrepreneurial adventures, including when his Atlantic City casinos went bust.
According to Barbara Res, a former executive vice president at the Trump Organization, Weisselberg ‘thought Trump was a god,’ she told the Daily News.
Investigators believe Weisselberg knows all of the Trump family secrets and have been putting pressure on him for months to cooperate with their investigation.
Observers are closely watching whether Weisselberg will turn against his former boss.
Jennifer Weisselberg: Ex-daughter in law of Allen Weisselberg
Earlier this year, investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office were seen carrying boxes of documents and laptops from Weisselberg’s Manhattan apartment.
She was married ton Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry from 2004 to 2018.
In an interview with DailyMail.com in June, she said the former president is a ‘sweet’ and ‘generous’ man who helped pay for her children’s private schooling out of kindness and good-will, rather than to dodge taxes.
If there was any unlawful activity within the Trump Organization it would be thanks to her former in-laws who still work for the company, she told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
Up until 2018, the mother-of-two was married to Barry Weisselberg, who manages Trump’s Central Park ice rinks, and her father-in-law was Allen Weisselberg, who became the chief financial officer when Trump became president.
‘Allen orchestrated the finances, and Donald is just sort of naïve,’ Jennifer said.
‘It’s provable that his trusted CFO is putting [Trump] and his children in a bad legal position.’
She is also set to testify to the grand jury.
Earlier this year, investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office were seen carrying boxes of documents and laptops from Weisselberg’s Manhattan apartment. She was married ton Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry (right) from 2004 to 2018
Jeff McConney: Trump Organization Senior Vice President
McConney was known as the man in the Trump Organization who would hand over key documents to Trump and CFO Allen Weisselberg before meetings and would be responsible for cutting checks for big payments.
He was the first high-profile member of Trump’s business empire known to have testified in front of the New York Grand Jury deciding whether to indict Trump.
Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen told The Daily Beast: ‘Think of The Trump Organization as a small, one-teller bank.
‘Donald [Trump] would be the president. Allen [Weisselberg] would be the branch manager. Jeff [McConney] would be the teller. Every single transaction was booked through McConney.
Concerns for prosecutors is that McConney is seen as a Trump loyalist and, as The Daily Beast reported, someone who hates left-wing politics.
Michael Cohen
Trump’s ex-personal lawyer was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for tax evasion and violating campaign finance laws relating to Trump’s 2016 vote win.
Cohen was one of Trump’s closest henchmen for a decade, once proudly boasting that he was prepared to ‘take a bullet’ for the real estate mogul-turned-president.
Michael Cohen, pictured March 2021, openly rejoices in former boss Donald Trump’s legal troubles on Twitter and through his podcast
He turned against his former boss, though, deciding to collaborate with federal investigators in Manhattan.
During a Congressional hearing in February 2019, Cohen alleged — among other things — that Trump regularly undervalued or overvalued his assets, both with banks and insurance companies.
Cohen openly rejoices in Trump’s legal troubles on Twitter and through his podcast ‘Mea Culpa.’
Source: AFP