How Did an Ice Rink Manager End Up Living Rent Free in a Trump-Owned Luxury Apartment?

Barry Weisselberg, manager of the Trump-owned Wollman ice rink in Central Park, allegedly avoided taxes while living rent-free in a Trump owned luxury apartment

Sometimes a chair is just a chair.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

And sometimes, a chair growing up with rich parents is a spoiled chair that is given gifts and lavish perks that arenโ€™t declared on their taxes.

Fucking chair!

According to a scathing report from the Daily Beast, New York prosecutors have found that Barry Weisselberg, manager of the Trump-owned Wollman ice rink in Central Park, and the son of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizationโ€™s chief financial officer, avoided taxes while living rent-free in a Trump-owned luxury apartment.

Donโ€™t worry, as New York prosecutors are all over this shit, and whatโ€™s most important here is that Allen is already in trouble with the law, having been charged with tax-related crimes, including a scheme to defraud and grand larceny. Now they can put the full court press on his son, Barry, to get Allen to flip on Trump.

Donโ€™t you just love it when a plan comes together? But how did all of this come out? Well, that would be the work of Barryโ€™s ex-wife, Jennifer. See, Jennifer, a cooperating witness, handed over all the receipts, including tax returns and financial documents, to investigators to show that her ex-husband wasnโ€™t reporting all of the luxury perks he was allegedly receiving in his taxable income.

Jenifer claims that the Trump Organization often gave perks to their employees, including paying their tuition. So how did Barry end up in such a high-priced apartment when he was only the manager of an ice rink?

Well, kindness, of course.

โ€œItโ€™s a corporate apartment that I was given temporarily,โ€ Barry testified under oath in August 2018, during his divorce proceedings.

The Daily Beast explains:

That deal was described as a tax-dodging โ€œscheme to defraudโ€ in the June 3 indictment against the Trump Organization and his father, the companyโ€™s chief financial officer. In it, prosecutors said the pad had โ€œno reported rent at all.โ€ The indictment noted that the company โ€œintentionally failedโ€ to report that income or pay associated taxes to federal, state, and local government agencies.

โ€œThe value of the lodging provided to [Allen] Weisselbergโ€™s family member constituted income to that family member,โ€ the indictment reads.

Barry Weisselberg was not named in the indictment, but he is the only person who matches the documentโ€™s description of a male Weisselberg family member who works at the company and lived there during that time.

But that isnโ€™t all. During his divorce, Barry testified โ€œthat his father paid the leases for his 2015 Lexus RX 350 and his 2018 Range Rover Velarโ€”though his ex-wife maintains that these were company-provided cars.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s all about control. The apartment, the car, the parking garage, the tuition, your vacations, your life, really,โ€ Jennifer Weisselberg told The Daily Beast. โ€œYouโ€™re embedded with them. Youโ€™re indebted to themโ€ฆwhen you work there, you end up doing crimes.โ€

โ€œYouโ€™re stuck. Itโ€™s like a mob. It all stays quiet because they end up owning you,โ€ she said.

Straight From The Root

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