Tag: Trump organization

Manhattan DA takes financial records from Trump CFO’s former daughter-in-law

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Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Thursday seized several boxes and a laptop computer’s worth of financial records as part of their ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s financial dealings, the Washington Post reports. 

Why it matters: The materials come from Jennifer Weisselberg, who is closely connected to the Trump Organization. She is the ex-wife of employee Barry Weisselberg and the former daughter-in-law of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer as well as its most senior serving non-family member. 

  • The move highlights how deep the investigation aims to go.

Details: Jennifer Weisselberg is cooperating in the investigation and was complying with a grand jury subpoena that asked her to turn over all financial records connected to the Trump Organization and Wollman Rink, an ice rink in Central Park that Barry Weisselberg managed for the Trump Organization, per the Post. Continue reading.

Trump Organization taps criminal defense attorney as Manhattan prosecutors close in on business dealings

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On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that former President Donald Trump’s family business has retained Ronald Fischetti, a high-powered criminal defense lawyer, as New York prosecutors continue to investigate Trump’s finances.

“Mr. Fischetti, 84 years old, is a former law partner of Mark Pomerantz, the former federal prosecutor working on the investigation for the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. Mr. Pomerantz was sworn in as a special assistant district attorney in February and is now on leave from law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP,” reported Corinne Ramey and Rebecca Davis O’Brien.

“Mr. Vance’s office has said it is investigating possible bank, tax or insurance fraud,” said the report. “Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from former President Donald Trump’s banks, lenders, an insurance broker and other parties, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported. They are examining financial transactions at Manhattan properties including Mr. Trump’s flagship Trump Tower; Seven Springs, an estate in Westchester, N.Y.; and a hotel in Chicago, The Journal reported.” Continue reading.

N.Y. Seeks Trump Insider’s Records, in Apparent Bid to Gain Cooperation

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State prosecutors in Manhattan subpoenaed the personal bank records of the Trump Organization’s longtime C.F.O. and are scrutinizing gifts he received from the former president.

State prosecutors in Manhattan investigating former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the company’s chief financial officer and are questioning gifts he and his family received from Mr. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

In recent weeks, the prosecutors have trained their focus on the executive, Allen H. Weisselberg, in what appears to be a determined effort to gain his cooperation. Mr. Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, has overseen the Trump Organization’s finances for decades and may hold the key to any possible criminal case in New York against the former president and his family business.

Prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., are examining, among other things, whether Mr. Trump and the company falsely manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits. Continue reading.

Trump’s taxes in hand, Manhattan DA’s probe heats up

NEW YORK — With former President Donald Trump’s tax returns finally in hand, a team of New York prosecutors led by a newly hired former mob-buster is sending out fresh subpoenas and meeting face-to-face with key witnesses, scrutinizing Trump’s business practices in granular detail.

Amid the swirl of activity, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is scheduled Friday to meet again with Trump’s longtime former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

It would be the eighth time he has spoken with investigators working for District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., dating to Cohen’s time in federal prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations. Continue reading.

Trump’s CFO’s ex-daughter-in-law is cooperating with prosecutors and ‘refuses to be silenced,’ her lawyer says

An attorney representing the former daughter-in-law of the Trump Organization’s CFO, Allen Weisselberg, says she’s cooperating with prosecutors conducting an inquiry into Donald Trump’s finances and “refuses to be silenced.”

Jennifer Weisselberg “is committed to speaking the truth, no matter how difficult that may be,” her attorney, Duncan Levin, told Insider in a statement. “She will continue to cooperate fully with the various law-enforcement agencies that are investigating her ex-husband’s family and the very powerful interests they represent.”

“Jennifer refuses to be silenced any longer by those who are conspiring to prevent her from sharing what she has learned over the past 25 years,” Levin added. Continue reading.

In Trump probe, Manhattan district attorney puts pressure on his longtime chief financial officer

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The Manhattan district attorney is delving deeply into the personal and financial affairs of the chief financial officer for former president Donald Trump’s company, probing the extent of Allen Weisselberg’s loyalty to Trump and scrutinizing a Trump-owned apartment once occupied by Weisselberg’s son, according to people familiar with the investigation.

This questioning is now led by a former mob prosecutor, and one person familiar with the investigation said it is aimed at “flipping” Weisselberg — attempting to turn one of Trump’s longest-serving and most important aides into a witness against him. 

Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D), Manhattan’s top prosecutor, has not formally accused anyone of wrongdoing, including Trump, Weisselberg or the latter’s family. But the focus on Weisselberg underscores the depth and ambition of Vance’s inquiry, a criminal investigation broader than any Trump’s company is known to have faced before. Continue reading.

Trump’s politics hurt his businesses. Will he sell as he looks to a potential 2024 campaign?

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Donald Trump’s new office is the Mar-a-Lago Club’s old bridal suite. There — exiled from Washington, avoiding New York, working from a repurposed dressing room in Florida — the former president faces a choice.

Is it time to start selling his properties?

Some of Trump’s businesses are in crisis, facing sharp drops in revenue and an exodus of clients, lenders, lawyers and business partners. Now, sharks are circling. Continue reading.

Legal Pressure on Trump Increases With Judge’s Order in Fraud Inquiry

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The order, answering a demand for documents by New York’s attorney general, rejected a bid to shield the records with attorney-client privilege.

A New York judge on Friday increased pressure on former President Donald J. Trump’s family business and several associates, ordering them to give state investigators documents in a civil inquiry into whether the company misstated assets to get bank loans and tax benefits.

It was the second blow that the judge, Arthur F. Engoron of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, had dealt to Mr. Trump’s company in recent weeks.

In December, he ordered the company, the Trump Organization, to produce records that its lawyers had tried to shield, including some related to a Westchester County, N.Y., property that is among those being scrutinized by the New York State attorney general, Letitia James. Continue reading.

Trump steps out of the White House and into a company in crisis

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Donald Trump returns to his company this week as it faces a deepening crisis, with key properties bleeding revenue and its bankers, lawyers and customers fleeing the company.

Financial disclosure forms, filed by the former president as he left office, revealed that his hotels, resorts and other properties had lost more than $120 million in revenue last year, as the pandemic forced long-term closures and kept customers home.

Those losses were worst in the places where Trump could least afford it: His Washington hotel, which has a $170 million loan outstanding, saw revenue drop more than 60 percent. His Doral resort in Miami — also carrying a huge debt load — saw a 44 percent drop. Continue reading.

Deutsche Bank won’t do any more business with Trump

LONDON (CNN Business) — Deutsche Bank will no longer do business with President Donald Trump, a move that will cut off his business from a major source of loans that once helped fund his golf courses and hotels.

Germany’s biggest bank has decided to refrain from future business with the president and his company, a person familiar with the bank’s thinking told CNN Business. The news, first reported by the New York Times, follows last week’s deadly riot at the US Capitol. 

A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank (DB) declined to comment to CNN Business, citing a prohibition on discussing potential client relationships. Continue reading.