Trump Organisation CFO granted immunity by prosecutors in Cohen probe

NEW YORK: Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organisation who is helping to run the US president’s family business, has been granted immunity by federal prosecutors, US media reported Friday.

Weisselberg was granted immunity for providing information about Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen in an investigation into hush payments to two women in the run-up to the 2016 election, The Wall Street Journal reported.

He arranged for the Trump Organisation to reimburse Cohen, who paid 130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 in exchange for her silence on an alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006, the Journal said.

NBC News reported similar details, which will increase pressure on the president since Cohen spectacularly implicated Trump while testifying under oath this week about making the illegal pre-election hush payments.

Federal prosecutors have also granted immunity to two executives at the National Enquirer tabloid for testimony about Trump’s involvement in the two payments, US media reported on Thursday.

Enquirer chief executive David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend, and the newspaper’s chief content officer Dylan Howard could reportedly offer evidence on Trump’s knowledge of payments to Stormy Daniels and a Playboy model.

Weisselberg has worked for Trump for decades and is one of his most loyal business retainers. After the Republican billionaire was elected president, Trump handed control of his business interests to his adult sons and Weisselberg. — AFP