Manhattan prosecutors could bring criminal charges against the Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg as soon as next week
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office told former President Donald Trump's lawyers that the Trump Organization could face criminal charges, The New York Times first reported on Friday.
Citing people with knowledge of the matter, The Times said that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as soon as next week.
Trump's lawyers met with Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday hoping to persuade them to abandon charges against the company, The Times reported. Ronald Fischetti, an attorney representing the Trump Organization, confirmed the meeting in an interview with NBC News.
"The corporate office will plead not guilty and we will make an immediate motion to dismiss the case against the corporation," Fischetti said.
Fischetti said the prosecutors have not secured the cooperation of Weisselberg, which they have sought, and that they asked about Trump's personal involvement in possible tax crimes.
"They could not get Allen Weisselberg to cooperate and tell them what they wanted to hear, and that's why they are going forward with these charges," Fischetti told NBC News. "They could not get him to cooperate because he would not say that Donald Trump had knowledge or any information that he may have been not deducting properly the use of cars or an apartment."
State prosecutors are nearing the end of a two-year investigation into whether Trump's sprawling real-estate company violated New York laws.
The criminal inquiry began after Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer, said the Trump Organization had helped facilitate an illegal hush-money payment to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Since then, the investigation has expanded to examine whether the company artificially inflated or deflated the value of its assets for loan and tax purposes. Prosecutors have also asked witnesses about perks that Trump Organization executives received, possibly without paying the appropriate taxes on them.
It is not clear whether prosecutors in Vance's office will bring charges against the Trump Organization, Weisselberg, any other executives, or Trump himself. The office has empaneled a special grand jury that is reportedly weighing whether to indict subjects of the investigation. The Trump Organization has denied wrongdoing.
The investigation kicked into high gear in February when the Supreme Court cleared the way for Manhattan prosecutors to obtain eight years of Trump's tax records.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/manhattan-prosecutors-could-bring-criminal-171652964.html