(NationalUSNews.com) — As Trump’s hush money trial unfolds in Manhattan, prosecutors have called multiple people with ties to Trump’s former businesses and bank accounts, including Trump’s former accountant, Jeffrey McConney.
For years, McConney worked as an accountant for Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, eventually overseeing essential business functions like employee 401(k) accounts and payroll payments. McConney’s position provided him with unique insight into the hush money scheme involving former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and how the payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels were facilitated.
According to McConney, his job as one of Trump’s accountants required him to make semi-regular payments to Michael Cohen throughout 2017. McConney said that Cohen received approximately $420,000 from the Trump Organization through monthly payments of $35,000. McConney’s testimony aligns with Manhattan prosecutors’ allegations against Trump, as they claim that the former president used Cohen as a proxy to pay Stormy Daniels for her silence before paying Cohen back through monthly payments from the Trump family business.
Prosecutors also claim that Cohen paid Daniels using a home equity loan from a bank, which Trump reimbursed through the payments organized by McConney and an end-of-the-year bonus for the remaining amount. McConney admitted that organizing the payments to Cohen required immense effort, as the accountant had to pay Cohen twice as much due to how income tax would reduce the payment totals. McConney also provided a $60,000 bonus to Cohen, which he recorded in his notes regarding the scheduled payments.
While McConney claims the payments to Cohen were a reimbursement for the hush money payments to Daniels, Trump’s defense team presents a different possibility. In 2017, Cohen acted as Trump’s attorney, which the defense will likely highlight as the reason for the payments to Cohen from the Trump Organization. While evidence exists of Cohen communicating with McConney about the payments from Trump’s business, none of the communications feature information about Daniels or the hush money scheme.
Cohen did, however, send invoices to McConney that totaled $420,000, the full amount that Trump’s former attorney paid to Daniels. Additionally, McConney claims that while serving as an accountant for Trump’s business, he didn’t see any ledger entries that categorized payments to Cohen as related to his legal service. Despite the testimony from McConney and other witnesses, including Stormy Daniels, Trump maintains his innocence and regularly claims he did not violate the law through a hush-money scheme.
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