Trump Org, CFO Allen Weisselberg Indicted, Charges Announced Today

By David A. Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey and Jonathan O'Connell, The Washington Post

01 July 21

 

rump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg surrendered to authorities early Thursday after prosecutors secured grand jury indictments against him and the former president's family company, which declared the move an effort to harm Donald Trump.

Charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization are expected to be unsealed later in the day in New York State Supreme Court, several people familiar with the developments said. On Wednesday, people familiar with the case said the charges were related to allegations of unpaid taxes on benefits for Trump Organization executives.

Weisselberg is the first individual to be charged in connection with a long-running criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), who is now collaborating with New York Attorney General Leticia James (D) to investigate Trump's business practices. The Trump Organization also will be arraigned, represented in court by one of its attorneys.

Weisselberg arrived at the Manhattan criminal courthouse through an employee entrance at about 6:20 a.m., according to journalists who saw him arrive. His attorney, Mary E. Mulligan, confirmed the surrender in a text to The Washington Post.

“Mr. Weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court,” Mulligan said in a statement sent on behalf of Weisselberg from herself and co-counsel Bryan C. Skarlatos.

The Trump Organization, in a statement, lauded Weisselberg as “a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years.”

“He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President. The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing,” the statement said. “This is not justice; this is politics.”

Trump, in an interview Wednesday night from Texas — where he appeared at a presidential-style event with Fox News host Sean Hannity — lumped the New York investigations with other past probes that he has insisted have been politically motivated.

“All nonsense,” he said. “New York radical-left prosecutors come after me — you gotta fight.”

Prosecutors had declined to comment about the indictments Wednesday.

Although the indictments could pose trouble for Trump, exposing his company to potential fines and intensifying pressure on Weisselberg, neither the former president nor anyone else in his firm is expected to face charges this week. Prosecutors hope Weisselberg will offer testimony against Trump in exchange for lessening his own legal risk, according to a person familiar with the case.

Weisselberg, who has worked for Trump since the 1980s, is considered the most important figure in the Trump Organization apart from Trump family members. The Washington Post has previously reported that Weisselberg was a key figure in the investigations by Vance and James. Both have scrutinized whether Trump misled lenders or tax authorities, or evaded taxes on forgiven debts or fringe benefits for employees, according to court papers and people familiar with the cases.

In recent months, both sets of investigators have spoken to Jennifer Weisselberg, the chief financial officer’s former daughter-in-law, who said that Weisselberg’s son Barry had been given a free apartment and a hefty salary while he worked at the Trump Organization’s Central Park ice rink. Prosecutors were looking into whether taxes were paid on the benefits, people close to the investigation said.

The now-merged investigations of Trump’s company appear to be the longest-lasting and most extensive prosecutorial examination ever undertaken of the Trump Organization.

Vance’s office opened an investigation in 2018, responding to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s charges that Trump had directed improper payoffs during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who said they’d had affairs with Trump.

But Vance’s probe then broadened, encompassing years of business transactions. Vance examined tax breaks Trump got on an estate in suburban New York, loans Trump took out on his Chicago tower, and statements Trump made to New York tax authorities about the value of his Manhattan towers, according to previous court filings.

Vance did not seek reelection this year; that means the bulk of the case against Trump’s company could be handled by Vance’s successor.

Trump and his organization have never faced criminal charges, but Trump has been the target of lawsuits from the office of the New York attorney general.

In one, he was sued for allegedly defrauding students at Trump University, a case that ended with Trump paying a $25 million settlement in 2016 in that and other cases. Two yeas later, Trump was sued for misusing money in a charity he controlled; a judge ordered Trump to pay damages of $2 million.