The criminal investigation being conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. into Donald Trump and the Trump Organization has expanded again and, according to the Washington Post, now includes large payments of money made to the son of Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
Specifically, Trump’s corporation paid Barry Weisselberg an annual salary of $200,000, $40,000 a year in bonus, and provided him with rent-free apartments for himself and his family, all of which may have been done to buy the silence of the Weisselberg family:
“Such payments and perks, as well as other financial support provided to Weisselberg and his family, have drawn new scrutiny from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) as a potentially key component of his ongoing criminal investigation into the former president’s business activity and finances.
“Barry Weisselberg is the son of Trump’s longtime confidant and chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, whose cooperation prosecutors are maneuvering to secure, a person familiar with the investigation said, as they evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump, or members of his family or inner circle. Like others, this person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.”
Not long ago, we learned that Vance’s office had subpoenaed Barry Weisselberg’s ex-wife, Jennifer, who turned over several boxes of documents she obtained when the two divorced:
“Jennifer Weisselberg, provided documents and a laptop to Vance’s office in response to a grand jury subpoena requiring her to produce all of the records she possessed for her ex-husband’s bank accounts and credit cards plus his statements of net worth and tax filings.
“Those records were entered into the couple’s divorce proceedings, which began in 2017, and some were obtained by The Washington Post this week along with a transcript of the deposition Barry Weisselberg gave as a part of that legal process. The documents show an array of payments and perks that BarryWeisselberg and his family received as a result of his employment for Trump’s company over 18 years, likely raising key questions for investigators analyzing the finances of the cash-only skating rink and working to ascertain whether the proper taxes were paid.”
This latest news in the ongoing case being built against Trump by Vance and his prosecutors is yet more proof that the failed, one-term former president is facing significant legal jeopardy as a result of the many allegedly illegal activities he’s engaged in over the decades since he took over the Trump Organization from his father, Fred.
Now that Vance has Trump’s tax returns and can match them with other evidence, it should be easy to prove discrepancies between what the Donald reported to banks and tax authorities versus what he knew to be the truth. That will probably lead to charges of bank and tax fraud, along with other financial crimes, which could also include money laundering. It’s believed the Department of Justice is also looking at Trump’s business deals over the years to determine possibly illegal financial connections he has to governments hostile to the United States.
If Donald Trump was under the impression that things couldn’t possibly get any worse for him, he now knows they can and will continue to.
