The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, Alan Weiselberg, surrendered to authorities early Thursday before expected court appearance on the first criminal indictment in a two-year investigation into business practices at Donald Trump’s company.
Weiselberg was seen walking around the compound that houses criminal courts and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office with his lawyer at around 6:20 a.m.
New York prosecutors were expected to announce an indictment Thursday that accuses Weiselberg and Trump’s well-known company of tax offenses related to fringe benefits for employees.
The case against Weiselberg — a loyal lieutenant of Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred — could give prosecutors a means to pressure the executive to cooperate and tell him what he knows about Trump’s business dealings. knows.
In a statement, Weiselberg’s attorneys Mary Mulligan and Brian Scarlatos said he “wants to plead not guilty and will fight these charges in court.”
The Trump Organization issued a statement defending Weiselberg, saying the 48-year-old employee is being used by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as “a pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president.” is.” It said neither the IRS nor any other district attorney would think to make such allegations on employee benefits.
“This is not justice; This is politics,” the company said.
The charges against the Trump Organization and Weiselberg were sealed, according to two people familiar with the matter, but were to be unveiled before an afternoon appearance in a state court in Manhattan.
Former US President Donald Trump waves to supporters after speaking at a rally at the Lorraine County Fairgrounds on June 26, 2021 in Wellington, Ohio. (Tony Dijk/AP)
People were not authorized to speak about the ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.
There was no indication that Trump himself would be charged at this stage of the investigation, pursued jointly by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats.
Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about the New York case as he visited Texas on Wednesday, but earlier in the week, Republicans called New York prosecutors “vulgar, nasty and outright biased.” and said that his company’s actions were “standard practice throughout the American business community, and not a crime in any way.”
People familiar with the matter told the AP that the planned fee was linked to benefits offered to the company’s top executives, such as use of apartments, cars and school tuition.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office declined to comment.
Vance, who stepped down at the end of the year, is conducting a comprehensive investigation into various cases involving Trump and the Trump Organization.
Her office has taken note of the truth in the valuation and tax assessment of the company’s assets, among other matters, in the payment of money paid to women by Trump.
Vance fought a long battle to obtain Trump’s tax records and is submitting documents and interviewing company executives and other Trump insiders.
James hired two lawyers from his office to work with Vance’s team after his office found evidence of possible criminal wrongdoing while conducting a separate civil investigation of Trump.
Wesselberg, 73, had come under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son’s use of the Trump apartment for little or no cost.
Barry Weiselberg, who manages a Trump-run ice rink in Central Park, testified in a 2018 divorce statement that the Trump Parc East apartment was a “corporate apartment, so we didn’t have rent.”
Barry’s ex-wife, Jane Weiselberg, is cooperating with both the investigation and the tax records and other documents the investigators have been exposed to.
The building in which Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Alan Weiselberg has an apartment is seen on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on May 19, 2021. (AP photo/Mary Altafer)
The Trump Organization is the business entity through which the former president manages many of his entrepreneurial affairs, including his investments in office towers, hotels and golf courses, his many marketing deals, and his television business. Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric have been in charge of the day-to-day operations of the company since becoming president.
Although Trump is not expected to be charged on Thursday, the charges against the company named after him raise questions about his knowledge — or the businesses involved — that prosecutors suspected were illegal.
Tax attorney and Boston College Law School professor James Repetti said a company like the Trump Organization will generally have the responsibility to withhold taxes not only on salaries, but also on other forms of compensation — such as the use of apartments or automobiles.
Such allowances would not be considered taxable income if they were required as a condition of employment, such as providing an apartment for the convenience of an employee who requires odd or continuous hours at the office or workplace, or permitting the use of the car for commercial purposes.
Another prominent New York City real estate personality, the late Leona Hemsley, was convicted of tax fraud in a federal case resulting from paying her company to remodel her home without reporting it as income. Had happened.
The Trump Organization case involves a possible violation of New York state tax laws.
“The IRS regularly looks for abuses of fringe benefits when auditing closely held businesses,” Repetti said. “The temptation for the business is that it claims a tax deduction for the expense, while the recipient does not report it in the income.”
