The New York Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who has handled the company’s finances for the past 40 years.
The inquiry on Weisselberg is reportedly looking into a number of items, including his personal taxes, financial activities and his role in the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg has not yet been formally charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
According to reporting from CNN, officials in the state’s attorney general’s offices are hoping to pressure Weisselberg to help them and the Manhattan’s district attorney’s offices in their respective investigations of the company, of former President Donald Trump and his family members.
State Attorney General Letitia James began leading an investigation into Weisselberg’s taxes several months ago. The investigation has been aided in part by information delivered to investigators by Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of Allen Weisselberg.
Jennifer Weisselberg’s attorney, Duncan Levin, confirmed her involvement in the state’s investigations.
“Ms. Weisselberg has been in touch with prosecutors from the criminal division of the New York attorney general’s office since at least March. She has provided information to them as part of their criminal investigation and will continue to cooperate in any way she can be helpful,” Levin said.
Jennifer Weisselberg had received seven boxes of financial documents, which she received after divorcing Allen Weisselberg’s son, Barry, and handed over to investigators in March.
As investigators wait for Weisselberg to “flip” on the former president, Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” lawyer, recently said it could be Trump who turns on Weisselberg, as well as members of Trump’s own family.
“I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them, including his children,” Cohen said during an interview on MSNBC. “I really believe that Donald Trump cares for only himself and he realizes that his goose is cooked.”
Trump will probably blame others for any financial messes or criminal acts that either the New York attorney general’s offices or the Manhattan district attorney’s offices find, Cohen added.
“This is the problem. It’s never ever Donald Trump. It’s always somebody else,” the former Trump lawyer added.
In a statement of more than 900 words he made on his website on Wednesday, Trump sought to deflect attention from himself, and claimed that James engaged in a “political and partisan Witch Hunt” — terminology he frequently employed when he was president during the Robert Mueller investigation.
In addition to investigations in New York, which are examining (among other possible financial misdeeds) whether Trump inflated or deflated his net worth when it served his purpose, the former president is also facing the possibility of other criminal charges in other parts of the country. Investigators are looking into allegations that he sought to influence state officials in Georgia to change the outcome of the presidential election there, and the potential of facing charges in Washington, D.C., for inciting a mob of his loyalists to attack the Capitol building on January 6.
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