His attorney stated to Daily Reuters that Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of Trump Organization, surrendered to Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Thursday morning in advance of likely criminal charges against him. These are related to alleged tax crimes.
Weisselberg will be arraigned at a lower Manhattan courthouse on Thursday.
The indictments were filed Wednesday by the Manhattan grand jury. They are due to be unsealed on Thursday at 2 p.m. Two sources familiar with the matter say ET. It was unclear what type of charges or how many they would face.
Although former President Donald Trump was subject to multiple state and federal prosecutorial investigations during his presidency, the indictment of the district attorney would be the first to accuse his namesake organization, The Trump Organization, for conduct that took place when he was its leader.
Trump is unlikely to face charges, according to his lawyer.
The Trump Organization was indicted. The product of over two years of investigation by Cyrus Vance Jr. the district attorney. This probe began with questions about accounting practices linked to hush-money payments made to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. It eventually led to a Supreme Court fight for a subpoena to Trump’s tax documents.
According to tax evasion lawyers, it is very rare for prosecutors not to charge a company with fringe benefits. In recent weeks, Trump Organization lawyers met with Vance’s offices to try to convince them not to bring the case.
It’s unbelievable. It’s astonishing. It’s unprecedented,” Trump attorney Ron Fischetti stated last week about a company that was indicted for failing to pay taxes on benefits.
Prosecutors have investigated a variety of violations over the course of this probe, including whether the real estate company misled lenders or insurers or committed fraud tax. To aid the extensive inquiry, Mark Pomerantz was added to the team as a special prosecutor. In recent months, however, the focus has shifted to taxes on benefits.
It was particularly focused on Trump’s long-serving lieutenant Weisselberg who is a high-ranking company executive who has been with him since 1973.
With the help of Jennifer Weisselberg, prosecutors began gathering evidence about Weisselberg late last year. Her lawyer stated that she has given investigators boxes of financial records in the time she has been speaking with authorities.
The documents from Jennifer Weisselberg’s divorce proceedings from Allen Weisselberg’s son Barry show that thousands of dollars in payments for cars and tuition went from Allen Weisselberg directly to his family.
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An indictment against Weisselberg could increase the pressure on him to cooperate with the prosecutors in their extensive investigation of Trump, the company, and its executives. This outcome is one that prosecutors have sought for months, but his lawyers told authorities that he had rejected it.