The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg with tax-related crimes on Thursday. The pending charges will not implicate former President Donald Trump according to his attorney.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Trump Organization and Mr. Weisselberg are expected to face charges related to allegedly evading taxes on fringe benefits, the people said. For months, the Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York state attorney general’s office have been investigating whether Mr. Weisselberg and other employees illegally avoided paying taxes on perks—such as cars, apartments and private-school tuition—that they received from the Trump Organization.
A sole focus on fringe benefits would be unusual, former prosecutors said. It is rare to charge an individual or company for failure to pay taxes on employee benefits alone, though such charges are used as part of larger cases. Some lawyers said that if prosecutors were going after the Trump Organization for fringe benefits alone, when few other companies face such charges, it would risk making the probe look biased.
Others said charges could be a tactic to further pressure Mr. Weisselberg, who has rejected prosecutors’ efforts to gain his cooperation, the people said.
Mr. Trump, a Republican, has denied wrongdoing and said the investigations, conducted by offices led by Democrats, are politically motivated. Earlier this week, he said in a statement that the case is composed of “things that are standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime.”