Donald Trump’s company and his longtime finance chief are expected to be charged today with tax-related crimes stemming from a New York investigation into the former president’s business dealings, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The charges against the Trump Organisation and the company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, appear to involve non-monetary benefits the company gave to top executives, possibly including use of apartments, cars and school tuition.
The people were not authorised to speak about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that charges were expected today.
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The charges against Mr Weisselberg and the Trump Organisation would be first criminal cases to arise from the two-year probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, a Democrat who leaves office at the end of the year.
Prosecutors have been scrutinising Mr Trump’s tax records, subpoenaing documents and interviewing witnesses, including Trump insiders and company executives.
A grand jury was recently empanelled to weigh evidence and New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Mr Vance on the criminal probe while she continues a civil investigation of Mr Trump.
Messages seeking comment were left with a spokesperson and lawyers for the Trump Organisation.
Mr Weisselberg's lawyer, Mary Mulligan, declined to comment.
The Manhattan district attorney's office also declined to comment.
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Trump’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Jason Miller, a longtime former senior adviser to the Republican, spun the looming charges as “politically terrible for the Democrats”.
“They told their crazies and their supplicants in the mainstream media this was about President Trump. Instead, their Witch Hunt is persecuting an innocent 80-year-old man for maybe taking free parking!” Mr Miller tweeted, apparently referring to Mr Weisselberg, who is 73.
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https://twitter.com/JasonMillerinDC/status/1410239848892579849Mr Trump, who’s been critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, was in Texas visiting the US-Mexico border on Wednesday.
He did not respond to shouted questions about the charges as he participated in a briefing with state officials.
Mr Trump had blasted the investigation in a statement on Monday, deriding Mr Vance’s office as “rude, nasty, and totally biased” in their treatment of Trump company lawyers, representatives, and long-term employees.
Mr Trump, in the statement, said the company’s actions were “things that are standard practice throughout the US business community, and in no way a crime” and that Mr Vance’s probe was an investigation was “in search of a crime”.
Trump Organisation lawyers met virtually with Manhattan prosecutors last week in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade them from charging the company.
Prosecutors gave the lawyers a Monday deadline to make the case that criminal charges shouldn’t be filed.
Ron Fischetti, a lawyer for the Trump Organisation, told the AP this week that there was no indication Mr Trump himself was included in the first batch of charges.
“There is no indictment coming down this week against the former president,” Mr Fischetti said.
“I can’t say he’s out of the woods yet completely.”
Mr Weisselberg, a loyal lieutenant to Mr Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred, came under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son’s use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost.
Barry Weisselberg managed a Trump-operated ice rink in Central Park.
Barry’s ex-wife, Jen Weisselberg, has been cooperating with the investigation and turned over reams of tax records and other documents to investigators.
“We have been working with prosecutors for many months now as part of this tax and financial investigation and have provided a large volume of evidence that allowed them to bring these charges,” Jen Weisselberg's lawyer, Duncan Levin, said.
“We are gratified to hear that the DA’s office is moving forward with a criminal case.”
Allen Weisselberg has worked for the Trump Organisation since 1973.
The case against him could give prosecutors the means to pressure the executive into cooperating and telling them what he knows about Trump’s business dealings.
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Prosecutors subpoenaed another long-time Trump finance executive, senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney, to testify in front of the grand jury in the spring.
Under New York law, grand jury witnesses are granted immunity and can not be charged for conduct they testify about.
Prosecutors probing untaxed benefits to Trump executives have also been looking at Matthew Calamari, a former Trump bodyguard-turned-chief operating officer, and his son, the company’s corporate director of security.
However, a lawyer for the Calamaris said that he didn’t expect them to be charged.
“Although the DA’s investigation obviously is ongoing, I do not expect charges to be filed against either of my clients at this time,” the lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, said.
