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Allen Weisselberg, the Trump director of finance, has surrendered to New York authorities, according to US media reports, ahead of criminal charges later announced Thursday against him and the company. of the former president.
The planned charges mark a turning point in a nearly three-year investigation into Donald Trump’s business by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance along with New York Attorney General Letitia James.
These are marginal benefits paid to Weisselberg and other senior executives for things like private school tuition, car leases, and apartment rentals, according to people on the subject. The lawyers involved in the case expected the charges to be sealed later in the day to see the exact details of the case.
The Trump Organization issued a forceful statement accusing prosecutors of using Weisselberg, “a loving, devout husband, father and grandfather,” as “a pawn in an attempt at scorched earth to harm the former president.”
“This is not justice; that is politics, ”he added.
Weisselberg’s 73-year-old lawyers said he “intends to plead not guilty and will fight those charges in court.” He reportedly entered the courthouse through a later entrance on Thursday morning. The Manhattan DA and the attorney general made no comment.
Trump is not expected to be charged, nor are his three adult children who have served as senior executives of the Trump Organization: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. Trump has repeatedly ridiculed the investigation as a witch hunt perpetrated by his political enemies. Both Vance and James are Democrats.
The former president’s lawyers had tried in recent days to persuade prosecutors to withdraw. As it became clear that Vance and James were moving toward charges, a Trump lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, promised a vigorous defense.
“In my more than 50 years of practice, I had never before seen the district attorney’s office go to a company to compensate employees or peripheral profits,” Fischetti said last week.
In recent months, Weisselberg has become a approach of prosecutors, who hoped to convince the man who once described himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears” to aid his investigation into a private business that has hundreds of Byzantine associations.
The former president’s business was already in trouble, with revenue falling on some of his hotels and golf courses due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are members like the Professional Golfers Association cut ties in protest of his role in the January uprising at the United States Capitol.
The Trump Organization has debts of about $ 900 million over the next four years, about a third of which are personally secured by Donald Trump.
Vance, who leaves office later this year, will have to hand over any cases to a successor. His current poll has been overshadowed by criticism for abandoning a previous Trump Organization investigation in 2012 that stemmed from complaints from condominium buyers that Donald Jr. and Ivanka had deceived them. The parties settled later.
Vance launched the current investigation in 2018 in response to reports made by Michael Cohen, a former Trump repairman payments with massive money to two women who claimed to have had extramarital affairs with the then presidential candidate. Cohen later told Congress he agreed with Weisselberg to be reimbursed by the Trump Organization through monthly payments listed as legal fees.
The investigation was expanded to consider possible bank and insurance fraud, according to court statements. It is being examined whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of certain properties to secure loans and bank insurance and minimize them for tax purposes, according to people informed in this regard.
The investigation had been hampered by Trump’s refusal to file tax records. Vance prevailed in a legal fight that went to the Supreme Court and he finally took possession of the documents in February.
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