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Crime Donald Trump

Manhattan DA’s Office Tells Trump’s Attorneys To Prepare For His Indictment

Attorneys for failed one-term former president Donald Trump have been informed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that their client will be indicted and that the indictment may be unsealed soon.

The New York Times reports:

“The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him. In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.”

Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who has met with prosecutors in Bragg’s office on several occasions. Such payments are in violation of New York law.

The Times also notes, “The district attorney’s office has already questioned at least six other people before the grand jury, according to several other people with knowledge of the inquiry.”

Shortly after the Times report dropped, Trump’s legal team released a statement which reads:

“The Manhattan District Attorney’s threat to indict President Trump is simply insane,” said a spokesperson. “For the past five years, the DA’s office has been on a Witch Hunt, investigating every aspect of President Trump’s life, and they’ve come up empty at every turn — and now this.

“The fact that after their intensive investigation the DA is even considering a new political attack is a clear exoneration of President Trump in all areas. President Trump was a victim of extortion then, just as he is now. It’s an embarrassment to the Democrat [sic] prosecutors, and it’s an embarrassment to New York City.”

The disgraced ex-president is also facing indictment in the state of Georgia for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Did Trump Just Hand The Case Against Him To Prosecutors On A Silver Platter?

Recently, there were multiple reports failed, one-term former President Donald Trump had just made a move with his company, the Trump Organization, that had some legal experts shaking their heads.

What did Trump do? The Washington Post reported that Allen Weisselberg, the indicted chief financial officer of Trump Org., had been stripped of his leadership role at more than 40 subsidiary companies:

“The changes were made Thursday and Friday, a week after a grand jury in Manhattan indicted Weisselberg on 15 felony counts, including grand larceny and tax fraud. Weisselberg was accused by New York prosecutors of helping run a 15-year scheme to evade income taxes by concealing executives’ salaries — including more than $1.7 million of his own income — from tax authorities. Two Trump corporate entities were indicted alongside Weisselberg.

So what exactly is Trump’s strategy when it comes to dumping Weisselberg while prosecutors are attempting to get the CFO to roll over on the Donald and testify against him?

It could be that Trump wants to reassure regulators, lenders, and other business entities that an indicted executive of the company isn’t making major decisions. But that’s far from the truth, according to The Post’s David Fahrenthold:

“A person familiar with the company who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its internal decisionmaking told The Washington Post: ‘Allen Weisselberg’s at the company. He’s got a job. He’s going to remain at the company.'”

Weisselberg is suspected of having evaded more than $900,000 in taxes, which means he’s facing enormous financial penalties and time in prison if he’s convicted. So is it wise for Trump to be cutting him loose right now?

Who is replacing Weisselberg as head of those subsidiary companies? Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who serve as vice presidents of the family-held corporation which carries their father’s name. That increases the legal exposure for them, which could mean that their dad is planning to toss them under the bus in the future in a last-ditch effort to save himself.

No matter what the former president does from this point forward, he has already strengthened the case against him by pushing Weisselberg overboard. He’s also made it more likely that Weisselberg will agree to cooperate with prosecutors as they build their case against the Trump family.

Donald Trump has handed the case against him to prosecutors on a silver platter. All they have to do now is follow the scorched earth approach he’s taking and present his moves to the grand jury.

As he’s always been, Donald Trump is his own worst enemy, and he’s not even smart enough to realize it.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Trump’s Legal Problems Could Get Much Worse After Tuesday: Report

Granted, it seems like we’ve been waiting for an eternity to see Donald Trump indicted and placed on trial for various criminal charges including bank and insurance fraud as well as money laundering and conspiracy. The question, however, keeps being asked: When do we reach the denouement that sees justice catch up with him?

While none of us are good at predicting the future, two longtime political operatives, Arick Wierson and Bradley Honan, believe Tuesday’s election in New York — most notably the race for District Attorney of Manhattan — is the matchup to watch because it could be very bad news for the failed, one-term former president.

In an op-ed they penned for CNN, Wierson and Honan write:

“Whoever wins the election will be handed a caseload that will include, in all likelihood, the prosecution of the Trump Organization in what could be the most consequential legal case in our nation’s modern history. For more than two years, the office of Cy Vance Jr., the current Manhattan DA, has been conducting a sprawling investigation into the inner workings of the Trump Organization’s finances stemming in part from hush money payments made to women who said they had extramarital affairs with Trump (which he has denied). The Manhattan DA’s office has also suggested it is looking into allegations that the Trump Organization inflated property values in statements to lenders and insurers while undervaluing assets for tax purposes.”

Vance is retiring at the end of the year, so whoever replaces him will have a lot on their plate when it comes to the Trump family and Trump Organization. Right now, that appears to come down to two candidates:

“Many political insiders believe it’s really a two-horse race between Democratic candidates Tali Farhadian Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor and general counsel for the Brooklyn district attorney, and Alvin Bragg, a prosecutor in the state attorney general’s office.”

Weinstein is the wife of a hedge fund manager, Boaz Weinstein, and also interviewed with the Trump administration to fill a federal judgeship which was never offered to her. However, her coziness with the Wall Street crowd could hurt her chances of winning the D.A.’s race.

Alvin Bragg’s base of support is in Harlem and he has also been endorsed by the New York Times. The fact he has experience as a prosecutor is certainly an advantage for him as he seeks to be the top law enforcement official in the borough of Manhattan.

No matter who prevails when the votes are counted, he or she may wind up making a major name for themselves by prosecuting the Donald and his company, Wierson and Honan conclude:

“If Vance’s office doesn’t bring charges before he leaves office, then it will be left to the incoming DA to make that call, and come January 2022, the new Manhattan DA will be drinking from the fire hose with no time to ease into the job — which suggests that someone with high-level prosecutorial experience might be best positioned to succeed this time around.

“With numerous candidates on the ballot, Manhattan voters must choose wisely come Tuesday; whoever ends up winning the Manhattan DA race must not only have the wisdom and moral compass that the role has always required, but ample amounts of strength, fortitude, political smarts and cojones to take on the former president.”

Whoever wins will forever endear themselves to the people of New York and the majority of the nation if they continue to move forward aggressively and LOCK TRUMP UP!

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Manhattan DA Has An ‘Insider’ At The Trump Organization: Report

For months now, we’ve seen reports that prosecutors in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. have been trying to get Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, to flip on Donald Trump and tell what he knows to investigators.

But what if Vance already has an insider that can provide just as much evidence as Weisselberg and has already appeared before a grand jury that may be handing down more indictments in the coming months?

That’s exactly what Andrew Weissman, the top prosecutor in the Mueller investigation, believes has happened.

Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Beat” recently, Weissmann told host Ari Melber:

“I’d like to throw out one more name, which is Jeff McConney, because I don’t think that’s gotten enough attention because last week the reports were that he went into the state grand jury and he is the controller of the Trump Organization So, again, all speculation, but clearly you’re looking for an insider. That’s why there is so much focus on Allen Weisselberg trying to get somebody who is on the inside who would know where every penny went. Well, that’s the controller as well as the CFO. So if Jeff McConney is cooperating, that is really bad news potentially for Weisselberg and for the Trump Organization and other individuals up to and including the former president.”

McConney has access to the same financial information as Weisselberg, Weissmann noted, meaning that there’s a very good chance he’s already spilled his guts to Vance’s prosecutors to keep from being charged with various crimes.

Weissmann then added:

“In other words, Manhattan may have found their insider, because it would be unusual to put somebody like McConney into the state grand jury, where he would be given immunity as soon as he testifies automatically, if they didn’t think that he had something useful to provide.”

It certainly makes perfect sense that prosecutors might have gone around Weisselberg and subpoenaed McConney first, if only to see if what he says matches up with Weisselberg’s testimony when he appears before the Manhattan grand jury.

No wonder Trump is reportedly sweating over what’s happening with Vance’s investigation. It appears the DA is gathering all the evidence and leaving no stone unturned. That alone tells you the future doesn’t look bright for the Donald.

 

Categories
Business Crime Donald Trump

Chief Financial Officer Of The Trump Organization Reportedly Ready To Tell ‘Where All The Bodies Are Buried’

Prosecutors in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. have turned their focus to Allen H. Weisselberg, who has served as chief financial officer of the Trump Organization for decades, and are clearly hoping to get him to turn state’s evidence and implicate former President Donald Trump, along with members of his family, according to a report from the New York Times:

“The increased focus on the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, could step up pressure on him to cooperate with the investigation if the prosecutors unearth evidence of wrongdoing on his part. He has served as the Trump Organization’s financial gatekeeper for more than two decades and could be a vital source of information for the government about the inner workings of the company.

“In recent weeks, the prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., have been interviewing witnesses who know Mr. Weisselberg and have asked at least one witness about Mr. Weisselberg’s sons, Barry and Jack Weisselberg, according to two of the people with knowledge of the matter.”

The idea of placing Weisselberg under the microscope in an effort to convince him to flip on his boss makes perfect sense, according to the former president’s niece, Mary:

Additionally, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman noted that Weisselberg is a key to Vance’s investigation because he “knows where all the bodies are buried.”

Would Weisselberg be willing to sing like a proverbial canary? According to Elie Honig, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, we already know that the Trump Org. CFO is indeed willing to cooperate to make sure he isn’t charged with the Donald’s crimes:

And then there’s this from Andrew Weissmann, who was one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s top deputies in the Russia investigation:

The sudden turn to Weisselberg comes just a week after Vance’s office finally obtained eight years of Trump’s tax returns, along with “millions of pages” of his financial records. Those documents are suspected of containing evidence that Trump and his company committed fraud on an unprecedented scale.

For his part, the former president whined in response to the Manhattan D.A. getting his tax returns:

“For more than two years, New York City has been looking at almost every transaction I’ve ever done, including seeking tax returns which were done by among the biggest and most prestigious law and accounting firms in the U.S.”

However, if Trump has done business by the books and committed no crimes, why did it take the Supreme Court to wrest control of his tax returns away from the Trump Organization? An innocent man would never fight so doggedly to keep such information private. Only a crook with something to hide would go to such lengths.