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The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, are preparing criminal charges for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance as early as next week, according to people on the subject.
Trump Organization attorneys were warned of possible charges related to their marginal benefit accounting during a 90-minute Zoom meeting with prosecutors from the Vance office and the New York attorney general’s office, Letitia James, Thursday, according to people.
Vance convened a special grand jury to hear evidence in late May, indicating that many years of investigation is reaching a critical stage. Under New York state law, prosecutors cannot charge a company with fraud without also accusing a senior executive who is held responsible for the alleged activities.
Weisselberg’s ex-daughter-in-law Jennifer has informed prosecutors about the so-called marginal benefits attributed by the Trump Organization, including rent-free apartments, school tuition, luxury cars and other benefits. He said these off-book gifts were used to encourage loyalty and limit taxes.
Jennifer was married to Allen’s son, Barry Weisselberg, who ran a Trump-operated skating rink in Central Park.
“Weisselberg’s stuff is imminent,” one of the people briefed on the matter said.
Donald Trump, who has been agitating the return to politics and hinted at a White House offer in 2024, has repeatedly rejected investigations by Vance and James, two New York Democrats, as a “partisan witch hunt.”
Mary Mulligan, a lawyer for Weisselberg, declined to comment. Spokesmen for the Manhattan DA and the New York Attorney General, who are working in tandem on the investigation, also declined to comment.
Ronald Fischetti, a lawyer representing Trump, issued a forceful statement rejecting these charges.
“In my more than 50 years of practice, I had never before seen the district attorney’s office go to a company for employee compensation or marginal benefits,” he said. “The IRS has not filed or has ever filed a case like this.”
During the meeting, Trump’s lawyers argued that the district attorney had not charged large Wall Street banks after the 2008 financial crisis, which made the case against the former president even more unwarranted, according to a of people informed about the Zoom call.
Vance opened his investigation in 2018, after reporting that the president’s former repairman, Michael Cohen, had paid “money” payments to women who claimed to have had relations with the then presidential candidate. Cohen told Congress he agreed with Weisselberg to reimburse Trump Organization funds listed as legal fees.
The probe later evolved to consider possible banking and accounting fraud by the Trump Organization, including whether it inflated the values of certain properties to secure bank loans on favorable terms and minimize them fiscally.
Prosecutors have been putting pressure on Weisselberg in recent months, who was hired by the former president’s father, Fred Trump, and has described himself as the company’s “eyes and ears.”
His cooperation, prosecutors say, could be vital in filing a larger case against the company or Trump himself. Three of Trump’s adult children, Donald, Jr., Ivanka and Eric, have also held executive positions in the company. However, so far Weisselberg has refused to cooperate, according to people familiar with the matter.
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