Legal experts believe that new criminal charges could be filed in connection with the tax fraud investigation into the Trump Organization.
According to NPR, the Trump Organization’s lawyers and the company’s chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg are set to appear in court Monday for the first time since they were arraigned three months ago, on charges that they participated in a 15-year scheme to defraud taxpayers by paying company executives with untaxed benefits.
The report noted that there are “plenty of signs” that New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. are “aggessively working the case, including an unannounced court appearance in August by attorneys for both Weisselberg and the Trump Organization.”
“The fact that they are having sealed proceedings is consistent with an ongoing grand jury investigation and suggests the district attorney may be considering further charges or defendants,” said Adam Kaufmann, a former investigations division chief at the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the New York investigation has recently focused on Matthew Calamari, Trump’s one-time bodyguard who later became the Trump Organization’s chief operating officer.
“Mr. Calamari and his son, Matthew Calamari Jr., have lived in Trump Organization apartments, and the elder Mr. Calamari has driven a company car. Earlier this month, the younger Mr. Calamari testified before a grand jury that continues to investigate Mr. Trump’s business affairs, according to people familiar with the matter,” the newspaper reported, adding that Jeff McConney, a senior finance executive who prepared the elder Calamari’s tax returns, also recently testified to the grand jury.
One major question hanging over the investigation is whether Weisselberg will turn on the company and his former boss, reaching a deal with prosecutors to testify against them. Bloomberg News reported Friday that it’s unlikely Weisselberg will “flip” because he’s not facing a lengthy prison sentence if convicted.
“Allen Weisselberg has made the calculation that he can escape, or if he gets a jail sentence, he can get through it,” said New York defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Adam Frisch, who is not involved in the case.
Also on Monday, Bloomberg Law reported that Mazars USA, the accounting firm that works with the Trump Organization, faces a critical dilemma as the tax fraud investigation into the former president’s family business continues.
“The firm could opt to end its decades-long relationship with the Trump Organization. But walking away from a client doesn’t end the firm’s professional obligations nor would it halt inquiries into its past work for Trump’s global real estate business,” reported Amanda Iacone. “Mazars may be stuck with Trump for better or worse. In the short term, the criminal case in New York and an ongoing congressional investigation could stain the firm’s reputation. Partners may leave, clients may switch to another CPA firm, revenues could slump.”
Experts have long suspected the records from Mazars could be the key to unraveling wrongdoing at the Trump Organization, which has been accused of keeping two sets of records, inflating the value of their real estate holdings to get better deals on loans, while giving lower numbers to the IRS to avoid paying taxes.
