His attorney told Daily Reuters that Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of Trump Organization, surrendered to Manhattan’s district attorney on Thursday morning in preparation for possible criminal charges against him. These are related to alleged tax crimes.
Weisselberg will be arraigned at a lower Manhattan courthouse on Thursday.
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According to sources familiar with the matter, the Manhattan grand jury indicted the defendants Wednesday. However, it is not clear what charges the indictments contain. The charges are expected to be unveiled Thursday.
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 indictment against the Trump Organization was the result of more than two decades of investigation by Cyrus Vance Jr., the district attorney. It began with questions about accounting practices related to hush-money payments made to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. This probe 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 truly extraordinary. 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 longtime lieutenant Weisselberg who is a high-ranking company executive who has been with him since 1973.
With the help of Jennifer Weisselberg, his ex-daughter-in-law and former daughter, prosecutors began to gather evidence about Weisselberg late last year. CNN has learned that she has given investigators boxes of financial records, and met multiple times with them in the months since her first contact 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’s son 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.