Trump Organization and its CFO charged with tax crimes

By Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani, Maureen Chowdhury, Veronica Rocha and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 7:39 p.m. ET, July 1, 2021
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8:19 a.m. ET, July 1, 2021

Trump Organization says chief financial officer is being used "as a pawn" for politics

From CNN’s Kara Scannell

The Trump Organization released a statement Thursday saying that its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, is being used by Manhattan prosecutors “as a pawn” for politics. 

“The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics," the statement, attributed to a spokesperson from the Trump Organization, said.

Indictments charging the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, are expected to be unsealed around 2 p.m. ET Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. 

Weisselberg surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office Thursday morning ahead of expected criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes, his attorney tells CNN. 

Read the full Trump Organization statement below:

"Allen Weisselberg is a loving and devoted husband, father and grandfather who has worked at the Trump Organization for 48 years. He is now being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President. The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics," spokesperson for The Trump Organization. 
7:48 a.m. ET, July 1, 2021

A look back at the Manhattan district attorney office's criminal investigation of the Trump Organization

From CNN's Erica Orden, Kara Scannell and Sonia Moghe

The expected charges today are set to come after lawyers for the Trump Organization met twice with prosecutors in recent days to present arguments about why the company shouldn't face criminal charges.

And they will come after more than two years of investigation that began with an inquiry into accounting connected to hush-money payments made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and expanded to include questions about whether the company or certain employees paid taxes on benefits including rent-free apartments, car leases or private school tuition.

Prosecutors have also scrutinized cash bonuses paid to employees and whether appropriate taxes were paid on them, CNN reported Wednesday.

Though prosecutors have focused on chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, in an effort to coax him into cooperating with their investigation, his lawyers recently informed the district attorney's office that he would not cooperate, people familiar with the matter said.

An indictment against him would likely significantly increase the pressure on him to comply with prosecutors' demands.

However, a source familiar with the matter says the pressure on Weisselberg has not been successful for a reason.

"Consider the possibility that Allen has nothing to flip on," the source said.

Investigators' scrutiny of Weisselberg began late last year, as prosecutors gathered evidence on him with the assistance of his former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg. Since then, she has turned over boxes of financial records and has met with investigators multiple times, her lawyer Duncan Levin told CNN.

In recent weeks, as prosecutors inched closer to bringing charges, former President Trump has lashed out at their inquiries, deriding the probe — led by Vance and New York state Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats — as conducted by "radical left" officials.

"Having politically motivated prosecutors, people who actually got elected because they will 'get Donald Trump,' is a very dangerous thing for our Country," he said in a statement earlier this week. "Why would anyone bring their company to New York, or even stay in New York, knowing these Radical Left Democrats would willingly target their company if viewed as a political opponent? It is devastating for New York!"

8:04 a.m. ET, July 1, 2021

Top Trump Organization executive surrenders to Manhattan DA ahead of expected criminal indictment

From CNN's By Kara Scannell and Erica Orden

Allen Weisselberg, center, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, surrenders to the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York on July 1, 2021.
Allen Weisselberg, center, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, surrenders to the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York on July 1, 2021. Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times/Redux

Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office Thursday morning ahead of expected criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes, his attorney tells CNN. 

Weisselberg is set to be arraigned later Thursday at a lower Manhattan courthouse.

Here's what we know so far:

A Manhattan grand jury filed the indictments Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter, but it was not immediately clear how many charges are in the indictments. Charges are expected to be unsealed Thursday.

Though former President Donald Trump faced multiple federal and state prosecutorial inquiries during his administration, the district attorney's indictment would be the first to charge his namesake company, the Trump Organization, for conduct that occurred when he led it.  

Trump himself is not expected to be charged, his attorney has said. 

The indictment of the Trump Organization is the product of more than two years of investigation by the district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., a probe that began with questions about accounting practices tied to hush-money payments made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and eventually led to a Supreme Court fight over a subpoena for Trump's tax documents.  

It is rare, according to lawyers who specialize in tax evasion cases, for prosecutors to bring charges solely related to fringe benefits provided by a company, and in recent weeks, lawyers for the Trump Organization met with prosecutors in Vance's office, hoping to persuade them not to bring the case.  

"It's outrageous. It's unprecedented. It's never happened before," Trump attorney Ron Fischetti said last week regarding a company being indicted in connection with failing to pay taxes on benefits.  

Over the course of the probe, prosecutors have examined a wide array of possible violations, including whether the real-estate company misled lenders and insurers or committed tax fraud, even adding a special prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, to aid in the expansive inquiry. But in recent months, the focus has narrowed to taxes on benefits.  

In particular, it came to center on Trump's longtime lieutenant Weisselberg, a top company executive who has worked for him since 1973.  

Beginning late last year, prosecutors gathered evidence on Weisselberg with the cooperation of his former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg. In the months since she began speaking to authorities, she has turned over boxes of financial records and has met with investigators multiple times, her lawyer told CNN.  

Documents from Jennifer Weisselberg's divorce from Allen Weisselberg's son Barry show thousands of dollars in payments for cars, rent, tuition, medical bills and more going from Allen Weisselberg to his son's family.  

An indictment of Weisselberg would intensify the pressure for him to cooperate with prosecutors in their wide-ranging investigation of Trump, the company and its executives, an outcome prosecutors have been seeking for months but which his lawyers have told authorities he has rejected.

1:41 p.m. ET, July 1, 2021

Indictment against Trump Org and its CFO expected to be unsealed around 2 p.m. ET today, sources say

From CNN's Kara Scannell

Trump Tower in New York is pictured on January 24, 2021.
Trump Tower in New York is pictured on January 24, 2021. Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Indictments charging the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, are expected to be unsealed around 2 p.m. ET Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. 

Weisselberg surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office Thursday morning ahead of expected criminal charges against him and the company in connection with alleged tax crimes, his attorney tells CNN. 

Weisselberg is set to be arraigned later Thursday at a lower Manhattan courthouse.

Though former President Donald Trump faced multiple federal and state prosecutorial inquiries during his administration, the district attorney's indictment would be the first to charge his namesake company, the Trump Organization, for conduct that occurred when he led it.  

Trump himself is not expected to be charged, his attorney has said. 

8:01 a.m. ET, July 1, 2021

Trump's company and chief financial officer expected to face criminal charges today

From CNN's Erica Orden, Kara Scannell and Sonia Moghe

The Manhattan district attorney's office is expected to charge former President Donald Trump's namesake company and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as soon as Thursday with tax crimes in connection with an array of perks and benefits awarded to employees, people familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Though Trump faced multiple federal and state prosecutorial inquiries during his administration, the district attorney's indictment would be the first to charge his company, the Trump Organization, with allegedly criminal conduct.

Trump himself isn't expected to be charged, his lawyer has said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the expected charges.

Weisselberg is expected to turn himself into prosecutors Thursday morning, two sources with knowledge told CNN.

Mary Mulligan, a lawyer for Weisselberg, declined to comment. A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance declined to comment. A lawyer for the Trump Organization didn't respond to a request for comment.

Read more about the case here.