The New York Times last week reported that the Manhattan district attorney’s office was prepared to bring criminal charges against the Trump Organization as a whole. Hours after the news broke, Trump’s attorneys had made an appeal to prosecutors from the district attorney’s office to not file charges against the company.
In response, New York prosecutors have given Trump’s attorneys until Monday afternoon to provide an argument as to why the Trump Organization and its top executives should not face criminal charges, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Two sources close to the matter told the Post that Trump Organization attorneys now have until Monday to make a case as to why the charges shouldn’t be filed against their client.
The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office has to do with the company’s financial dealings and whether it inflated the value of some assets to deceive lenders and insurers. The charges against company executive Allen Weisselbergwould reportedly be over tax issues.
Last month, the New York attorney general’s office announced that the investigation, which initially had been civil in nature, had been expanded to a “criminal capacity” as well.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” a spokesperson for the New York attorney general’s office said at the time.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) are working together on the investigation. Charges are expected to be filed next week.
