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cook the books
Idioms and Phrases
Falsify a company's financial records, as in An independent audit showed that they've been cooking the books for years . This slangy phrase was first recorded in 1636.Example Sentences
In the last two days of direct and cross-examination, Cohen has woven the tale of a nefarious scheme hatched by Trump, a tabloid smear merchant, women with whom the married Trump had sexual relationships along with some lawyers and accountants to illegally suppress information and cook the books to aid Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.
Watch: Trump's hush-money case asks, did he 'cook the books'?
"They agreed to cook the books."
So, he added, “they agreed to cook the books and make it look like the payment was actually income, payment for services rendered.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo alleged that Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's former lawyer and confidant, worked with the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to "cook the books" at Mr Trump's direction to hide a hush-money payment central to the case.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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