Bank statements displayed in court showed that Cohen paid Daniels’ attorney, Davidson, $130,000 on October 27, 2016, from an account in an entity that Cohen had created for this purpose. has been done.
Mr. McConney said Mr. Weisselberg’s handwritten notes regarding repayments to Mr. Cohen were stapled to bank statements in the company’s files.
Those memos detail a plan to pay Cohen $180,000 in base compensation, which covers payments to Davidson and unrelated technology costs. That sum was then doubled, or “grossed,” to cover the state, city and federal taxes that Mr. Weisselberg estimated Mr. Cohen would have to pay.
Mr. Weisselberg later added an additional $60,000 in bonuses, bringing the total to $420,000, according to the memo. The money was to be paid in 12 monthly installments of $35,000 each.
In this courtroom sketch, former Trump Organization employee Jeffrey McConney testifies about payments to Michael Cohen. Monday, May 6, 2024, New York. (Elizabeth Williams, via AP)
McConney’s own notes were also shown in court. After calculating that Mr. Cohen would receive $35,000 a month for 12 months, Mr. McConney wrote, “Send me a monthly wire from DJT.”
Asked what that meant, McConney said, “That was withdrawn from the president’s personal bank account.”
McConney said he was unaware of any other time the company added to employee reimbursements to cover the cost of taxes. Reimbursements to employees are not subject to tax if they are characterized as such.
President Trump is accused of falsifying business records by listing amounts paid to Cohen as legal fees in company records. Prosecutors allege that Trump’s top executives were able to conceal the refunds by paying him income and giving him extra to cover his taxes.
