The divorce of Jennifer and Barry Weisselberg was a controversial battle, but few realized during the 2017 and 2018 proceedings that it would end up in the middle of one of the most sensational criminal investigations in history – the investigation of the district attorney of Manhattan and Donald Trump.
Barry is an employee of the Trump Organization and his father, Allen, is the chief financial officer of the company. Jennifer says the divorce proceedings left her with ‘boxes and boxes’ of files in which prosecutors are interested.
Jennifer said she hired a lawyer who had previously organized white collars and crimes for the DA in Manhattan and a former criminal investigator for the IRS.
Juda Engelmayer
On April 7, a grand jury in New York sued material related to her ex-husband and his family, and Jennifer had almost all of them because of their divorce. Jennifer’s attorney, Duncan Levin, said she provided investigators with some documents even before the summons.
“Jennifer is very committed to working with investigators and handing over everything that is relevant,” Levin said. “We continue to go through documents in our possession to see if they will be useful to prosecutors and investigators, and stay in close contact with their offices while we have to sift through the material we have,” Levin said.
In a series of conversations with CBS News, Jennifer describes her interviews with investigators, and also shares previous claims of domestic abuse she made against Barry as part of a petition for a temporary restraining order in 2020 – allegations he previously denied.
While investigators initially asked her about gifts and apparent benefits for them she and her husband allegedly received while they were married – including renting for free in a valuable apartment owned by the Trump Organization – investigating officers became increasingly interested in her ex-husband’s father.
“The first meeting was about anything I (from the Trump Organization) received, any role I had, Barry, Barry, Barry, and when Mark Pomerantz was brought in, it went straight to Allen. The whole thing goes about Allen, “she said.
Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor with experience in financial matters, was appointed by the DA in February to work on the Trump investigation.
Barry and two attorneys for the Trump organization did not respond to questions sent by CBS News.
Allen Weisselberg, an accountant, has been working for the Trump organization since 1973. The company was then managed by mr. Trump’s father, Fred.
“Allen would never say that before Donald, but he bragged about his role and how he (Trump) learned everything he knows,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer described the interviews with prosecutors in Manhattan, saying, “They usually have about four or five focuses. They start asking me questions about spending, and about who (different people) are and how they spend. The other attorneys will ask the questions. “But if it’s Pomerantz, he and I see the big picture,” Jennifer said. “And then it goes beyond the compensation that was the role of each person … how they work, how they do things, you know, their movement, why they traveled different places or why there is a bank account in Hicksville, Long Island and a PO Box in Long Island. ‘
No member of the Weisselberg family is accused of criminal conduct.
She said investigators asked many questions about the Trump organization’s Wollman Rink in Central Park, which Barry drive with a nearby carousel. The two attractions almost cash bring in millions of dollars annually for the Trump organization: $ 12 million in the year before Mr. Trump became president, according to his personal financial disclosure reports, although revenues fell to $ 4.5 million last year due to the pandemic.
Jennifer said she remembered her ex-husband and said he brought cash from the operation to his father “every Thursday at 1am” once a week. ‘
The April 7 grand jury summons, requesting documents from Jennifer’s divorce proceedings, specifically requested documents regarding the track and the carousel, in addition to other financial records.
CBS News
Prosecutors also asked about Allen’s other son, Jack, a director of Ladder Capital Corp., a commercial real estate lender that lent nearly $ 280 million to the Trump Organization. Sources with knowledge of the investigation told CBS News that prosecutors are reviewing financial documents covering four Trump Organization buildings funded by Ladder.
“Obviously they are in the information gathering stage, but you can feel that it is a clear priority. Every meeting and every call is highly staffed,” Levin said.
Jennifer said the Manhattan DA first approached her about the Trump investigation in December 2020, two months after she spoke to investigators from the New York State Attorney General’s office, which is conducting a civil investigation into the Trump organization.
Before the meetings, in August 2020, Jennifer said that she had met with the office’s leading prosecutors for domestic violence.
A court that filed in support of the temporary restraining order sets out several claims of abuse, dating back to the year 2000. The allegations include harassment, assault, sexual abuse, violent touch, strangulation, identity theft, stalking and large erge in. She claims that she sustained serious injuries, including one case that she said was partially blind in one eye after the operation, and the other that the incident left her with permanent ear and jaw damage.
Barry had earlier denied allegations of abuse. According to the online publication Air Mail, in an affidavit on June 16, 2018, Barry wrote: “I have never beaten her … I repeat, I have never raised a hand to Jennifer.”
Barry was not charged with any crimes.
Barry did not respond to questions emailed to CBS News about Jennifer’s allegations of abuse.
Barry, who in 2017 requested and withdrew a request for a protection order against Jennifer with reference to ‘bodily harm’, was eventually given full custody of their two children.
Jennifer said participating in a Family Violence Support Group helps her realize that she wants to come forward.
“I have so many women who look after me, who have been abused themselves. It was so crazy, but I’m willing to stand up as a woman,” Jennifer said.
But she said the alleged abuse did not affect her decision to cooperate with the Trump Organization investigations.
“Even if it was just the financial crime (investigation), I would still do the same thing I do. I do not have to have extra motivation to do the right thing. I’m not like that. Know, I’ve never been, and I’m not afraid of them, ‘Jennifer said.