Criminal charges are being considered against The Trump Organization, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has informed former President Donald Trump’s lawyers and sources familiar with the situation say indictments could be announced as early as next week against the family business and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
According to The New York Times, the allegations are related to fringe benefits provided by The Trump Organization to a firm employee, and whether or not taxes were paid on the benefits or if they were documented in the company’s ledgers.
Vance’s team has been developing a case against Weisselberg for months, looking into whether he paid taxes on advantages such as apartment rent, auto leases, and tens of thousands of dollars in private school tuition for one of his grandkids.
Prosecutors are also looking at whether the fringe benefits were recorded in the company ledgers of The Trump Organization.
If an indictment is issued, it will be the first criminal prosecution stemming from Vance’s wide-ranging, extended probe of the organization’s commercial operations, potentially forcing Trump to defend his long-running corporation.
For months, Vance’s office has tried to get Weisselberg to collaborate with the investigation into The Trump Organization, but it wasn’t known until recently that the firm may face charges as well.
According to The New York Times, Trump’s attorneys met with senior prosecutors on Thursday in an attempt to persuade them to drop preparations to charge the group with criminal behavior.
Such discussions are common throughout white-collar crime investigations, and it was unclear whether a final decision on charging The Trump Organization with illegal activity had been reached.
For a long time, the organization has denied wrongdoing, and numerous tax lawyers believe it would be unprecedented to indict a firm for not paying taxes on fringe perks, despite the fact that companies frequently supply staff with expensive extras like company cars.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether Trump will face charges in the future, which could be harmful at a time when he’s considering a run for the White House in 2024 after losing it to President Joe Biden.
