Trump Organization and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg indicted on charges of unpaid tax on benefits

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The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg have been indicted and charged with tax-related crimes.

Weisselberg, 73, who began working for Donald Trump‘s father Fred in 1973, will appear in court on Thursday, two sources told The Washington Post.

His charges are related to the failure to pay taxes on benefits obtained as part of his work for Trump.  

It’s not clear exactly what charges Weisselberg is facing, though experts suggest it could be grand larceny, scheme to defraud, or tax fraud.

If Weisselberg is charged with tax fraud and failing to pay more than $10,000 in taxes for a single year, he could face up to seven years in prison.   

The issue took on a renewed sense of urgency when Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan district attorney, said in April that he will retire at the end of 2021.  

It marks the first criminal charges brought against the former president’s company since the Manhattan district attorney’s office began its investigation three years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.   

The development will come as a deep blow to Trump, whose lawyers met with prosecutors on Monday in a last effort to deflect charges.

However, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has apparently failed to ‘flip’ Weisselberg, who was spotted driving from his home to Trump Tower on Tuesday.

That appears to be a clear indication that he remains loyal to Trump.  

In a statement on Monday, the former president said his company’s actions were ‘in no way a crime’ and insisted he was the victim of a witch hunt.

The fast-paced developments came as it emerged prosecutors are examining cash bonuses paid out by the Trump Organization as they probe whether employee benefits were properly declared for tax purposes.

Lawyers for Trump and Weisselberg did not respond to requests for comment.  

The case involves unpaid taxes on benefits given to Weisselberg, including a company car and corporate apartment, according to a source quoted by Bloomberg News.  

It earlier emerged that perks included up to $500,000 in school fees paid for Weisselberg’s two grandchildren to attend Columbia Grammar and Prep School in Manhattan.  

There were no indications Trump himself was going to be charged, and Trump’s lawyer has said no charges will be brought against the former president, who oversees the real estate and branding empire that he took over from his father.    

At the same time, CNN reported that investigators had begun looking at cash bonuses paid to staff as part of their probe into benefits, believed to include rent-free apartments and school tuition.   

Just how essential Weisselberg would be to prosecutors is a matter of debate – with high-stakes relevancy Trump.

On Tuesday, top House Democratic impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman tweeted that Weisselberg’s cooperation is vital to whether prosecutors are able to go after Trump himself.

‘As I’ve been saying for a while, if Allen Weisselberg does not cooperate with the Manhattan DA’s office — and all indications are that he has not and will not — that office will not be able to criminally charge Donald Trump for any of the conduct under investigation,’ Goldman wrote.

That drew a retort from longtime Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has met numerous times with prosecutors in New York amid the probe. 

‘Wrong! They have documents to prove more than you know or should be commenting on. Weisselberg is not the key to a Trump indictment,’ Cohen responded. 

Another former federal prosecutor in New York, Daniel Alonson, later tweeted his own view that that potential charges being publicly discussed might not be enough to ensure Weisselberg’s cooperation.

Cohen also reacted Wednesday to the news of a looming potential indictment,  calling it a ‘Bad day for Trump Organization’ but a ‘good day for The United States of America!’

‘Evading taxes on fringe benefits is important to prosecute – but by itself isn’t the type of earth-shaking charge that typically leads defendants to cooperate,’ he wrote.’

Trump’s former spokesman Jason Miller took to Twitter to ridicule the way the investigation had fallen far short of its intended target.

‘This is politically terrible for the Democrats,’ he wrote.

‘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!’

Trump’s lawyers have shrugged off the threat, saying it would be highly unusual for the district attorney to target a company over employee compensation or fringe benefits.

They met with prosecutors on Monday in a final push to persuade prosecutors not to bring charges. 

But reports suggest prosecutors have spent months building a case against Weisselberg, a senior executive, in the hope that he might flip, and offer evidence against his boss.  

Photographs on Tuesday captured a man in a suit carrying a cardboard banker’s box with ’45 Office’ written on the outside. That is the same phrase the former president attaches to his post-presidential statements from his taxpayer-funded post-presidential office. Perched atop the case was a tan briefcase with a combo lock.  

Trump himself was spotted exiting his Fifth Avenue building in the afternoon, departing after longtime aide Dan Scavino, who helps organize Trump’s social media strategy and served as his golf caddie decades ago.  

Trump’s attorney Ronald Fischetti says he doesn’t expect charges to be brought against the former president after meeting New York prosecutors on Monday.  

Weisselberg helped run the company when Donald Trump took the White House. 

He has been identified as one of the principal figures with legal exposure after prosecutors combed through company finances and picked through unusual pay and benefit packages including up to $500,000 in prep school tuition for his grandchildren. 

His former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, told CNN Monday night she is willing to testify to a federal grand jury meeting in Manhattan. 

‘We’re prepared, and we are getting prepared,’ she said. 

She was previously married to Weisselberg’s son, Barry. She did not say whether prosecutors had requested her to testify, although she has handed over voluminous documents.  

During the meeting, senior officials with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Attorney General’s Office met with Trump defense lawyers who highlighted the damage the company could face, should an indictment occur.

The two prosecutors’ offices – now working together in their probe against Trump – did not indicate whether they’d decided to press charges.

But the collateral damage from any indictments could spread far and wide, affecting relationships with banks and other business partners, Trump Organization lawyers are purported to have said.

Meetings to discuss ‘collateral consequences’ are routine in white-collar investigations when charges are near, according to the New York Times.

The meeting, conducted through video conferencing, lasted for less than an hour.  

In a lengthy and rambling statement issued on Monday, Trump called the DA’s investigation ‘a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time’ and claimed prosecutors ‘failed’ to find a crime despite ‘millions of dollars of taxpayer funds wasted.’  

Trump railed against the prosecution in his response. 

‘They will do anything to stop the MAGA movement (and me),’ the former president said. 

‘They also know that no matter how strong our case, they will work hard to embarrass us and the Republican Party.’

He claimed the prosecution of his business organization meant other companies would see it as a reason not to station their businesses in New York.

‘Having politically motivated prosecutors, people who actually got elected because they will “get Donald Trump,” is a very dangerous thing for our Country. In the end, people will not stand for it. Remember, if they can do this to me, they can do it to anyone! Why would anyone bring their company to New York, or even stay in New York, knowing these Radical Left Democrats would willingly target their company if viewed as a political opponent? It is devastating for New York!,’ Trump said. 

He also claimed to be the victim after he saved the country from COVID.  

‘These witch hunters are relentlessly seeking to destroy a reputation of a president who has done a great job for this country, including tax and regulation cuts, border control, rebuilding the military, and developing the vaccine in record time – thereby saving our country, and far beyond. 

‘Washington, D.C. and ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court, should finally stop these vicious, angry, and highly partisan prosecutors. They are a disgrace to our nation,’ he concluded. 

Meanwhile, Fischetti said he was told the charges against the Trump Organization and its individual employees related to alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate benefits and perks.  

That cash is said to have been paid by both Weisselberg and Trump, as a gift to Weisselberg’s son Barry, whose kids were attending the facility.

Prosecutors are believed to be probing whether those gifts should have been declared as such, which would have made them eligible for tax payments.  

Charges will likely not be related to so-called ‘hush money’ payments that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen said were made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

‘Nothing. Not a word on that,’ he said. 

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016, a month before the election, to stop her discussing the alleged affair with Trump, which Trump denied having. The New  York Times reported that, in court documents, Cohen said Trump Organization officials were involved in the payoff. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal charges on August 21, 2018, including a campaign finance violation, for his role in the payment. 

Nor would the charges be related to concerns The Trump Organization used misleading valuations of its properties to deceive lenders, it is claimed. 

‘We asked, ‘Is there anything else?’ Fischetti told Politico. ‘They said, ‘No.’

‘It’s crazy that that’s all they had,’ he added.

He noted he expects charges to be filed against the company this week or next.   

The charges would be the first criminal allegations to emerge from Vance’s long-running investigation into Trump’s business work in New York. 

Over the past few weeks, a grand jury has been hearing evidence about Weisselberg, with prosecutors obtaining the executive’s personal tax returns. Companies can be tried for crimes, and if they are convicted or plead guilty, they would face fines and other penalties. 

Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General running a civil probe, has also reportedly acquired those tax returns. James’ office had been investigating whether Trump’s company falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.

Earlier, prosecutors were also able to obtain the personal bank records of Weisselberg. 

Investigators are looking at whether or not Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on benefits over the years, including apartments, leased cars and private school tuition for two of Weisselberg’s grandchildren. 

 

To that end, prosecutors have subpoenaed records from an Upper West Side private school, the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.

Vance is reported to be seeking records into Mercedes-Benz vehicles leased for Weisselberg and other Trump Organization employees. 

They are also looking at an apartment Trump may have gifted Weisselberg in Manhattan. 

Meanwhile, Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, Jennifer, has been interviewed in the probe six times and is cooperating with prosecutors.

She has been asked about the tuition payments, as well gifts her ex-husband, Barry, received from Trump, such as leased cars and an apartment on Central Park South.