[caption id="attachment_180593" align="aligncenter" width="767"] Jeffrey McConney, SVP of Trump Organization, leaves the courthouse on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, in New York. Photo: Ryland West/ALM[/caption] Trump Organization defense attorney Susan Necheles of NechelesLaw on Thursday began cross-examining the company's controller and senior vice president Jeffrey McConney about his responsibilities at the former president's companies, establishing that McConney had to ask former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg before taking action on a variety of matters. Weisselberg, who was indicted alongside the Trump Organization in 2021, pleaded guilty in August to 15 counts including grand larceny and tax fraud and admitted he concealed $1.76 million in payments to himself and other Trump Organization executives. Pursuant to his plea agreement, Weisselberg is expected to take the witness stand later in the trial as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office proceeds with its criminal tax fraud case against the Trump Organization. The Trump Organization defense team has made the case that Weisselberg broke the law alone and acted for his own benefit. Necheles showed McConney a series of emails in which he asked for Weisselberg's approval before taking simple actions, including writing a blurb about Trump-owned skating rinks for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation website or signing off on a $100 bonus check. "You were the controller, but you could not write a check for $100," Necheles said. McConney agreed, later testifying that he did not consider his job, in which he reported to Weisselberg, to be a managerial role. McConney testified that Weisselberg, who has admitted to using the proceeds of the fraud scheme to rent an apartment on Manhattan's Riverside Drive, a number of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and private school tuition for his grandchildren, was the only person outside the Trump family who had signing authority on the vast majority of the family's accounts. Necheles also asked McConney about his appearances before a Manhattan grand jury. McConney estimated that he spoke with the grand jury eight times and criticized the prosecutor who questioned him during those appearances, saying he was "kind of belligerent at times" and threatened to search McConney's apartment. He did not identify the prosecutor by name. "I just felt I had a target on my back and this was politically motivated," McConney said. Former President Donald Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Manhattan DA's case, has repeatedly described the various investigations involving himself and his businesses as politically motivated. On Thursday morning, assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass wrapped up his direct examination of McConney, including a line of questioning in which Steinglass showed jurors Trump's personal ledger entries for Weisselberg's grandchildren's private school tuition payments. Steinglass showed two versions of the ledger entries, explaining that one copy included the words "per Allen Weisselberg" while the other, which was produced by the Trump Organization to the grand jury, did not include that line. Steinglass repeatedly asked McConney if he was the one who deleted those three words, and McConney said he did not remember. "How often did you delete items from the general ledger?" Steinglass asked. "Never," McConney said. "So if you had done it, it would have been a significant event," Steinglass said. "It's probably something I would remember," McConney said. "And yet you don't," Steinglass said. McConney reiterated that he did not. Steinglass also asked McConney a series of questions about Trump Organization employees, including Weisselberg, who used addresses outside New York City on tax forms despite working from Trump Tower every day and maintaining apartments in the city, potentially avoiding city taxes. "Mr. McConney, did you intentionally help people try to evade their income taxes?" Steinglass asked. McConney hesitated before answering. "Evade is a very strong word," he said. "I tried to help them any way I could, with some suggestions." The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, resumed Thursday after an unexpected nine-day adjournment because McConney tested positive for COVID-19 during his second day on the witness stand. Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who also came down with COVID-19 after sitting next to a coughing McConney last week, participated in Thursday's proceedings in a mask after announcing that CDC guidelines allowed him to be present.