Breaking WSJ: The Manhattan district attorney's office is expected to charge the Trump Organization

[demmiblue]

Breaking WSJ: The Manhattan district attorney's office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

Link to tweet

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said, which would mark the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago.

The charges against the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, are a blow to former President Donald Trump, who has fended off multiple criminal and civil probes during and after his presidency. Mr. Trump himself isn’t expected to be charged, his lawyer said. Mr. Weisselberg has rejected prosecutors’ attempts at gaining his cooperation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The defendants are expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon, the people said.

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.

If prosecutors could show the Trump Organization and its executives systematically avoided paying taxes, they could file more serious charges alleging a scheme, lawyers said.

[FBaggins]

1. Sounds like bad news

Prosecutors were expected to use threats of such charges to get the CEO to flip on Trump.

[StarfishSaver]

2. Bad news for whom?

[FBaggins]

12. For anyone hoping that the CEO would flip on Trump

I presume that few of us were hoping for more than what seem like minor charges.

Doesn’t mean that there can’t be more to come. But I’m sure you’ve seen the speculation that Vance won’t be pressing charges related to hush money or manipulating land values

[StarfishSaver]

13. I've seen lots of "speculation." And I give it the credence it deserves

I'll wait to see what happens rather than rely on listening and reading people who make their living speculating but don't know any more about what's happening or about to happen on the inside than you are I do.

[UnderThisLaw]

4. .

[wnylib]

18. CFO knows that flipping on Trump

would trigger a death sentence for himself and maybe his family. He will never flip.

[Hoyt]

3. Unless they get trump -- which doesn't appear likely here -- it just doesn't mean much.

[Budi]

7. It is the ruin of a global criminal enterprise that stretches around the world.

So trump goes to prison. It would be great to see it, and he may yet.
However ,Trump would just be one player in a long line of many. Take down the whole Trump Org & now you've got a story that makes Enron & the Gambinos look like another day in the life of a crime fighter.

This is much bigger. Trump Org was everywhere.

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. That's the way I look at it. Pull the rug out from under Weisselberg,

and that entire crooked company is gonna trip.

[Hoyt]

11. It sounds like they are going to get a few guys for not reporting taxable perks. That's not much.

Yeah, it COULD expand. And Patrick Fitzgerald could say he made a mistake and is going to indict george war bush.

[NQAS]

14. I'm also not particularly hopeful that they'll get TFG

But let's not forget that the Federal government got Al Capone on tax evasion. I'm fine with whatever it takes to get any of these gangsters in jail. Freeze their bank accounts, take their money, seize their properties, destroy (even further) the name and the brand.

[Larissa]

26. All it takes is for one domino to fall

. . . one pinball to set a Rube Goldberg contraption in motion to come crashing down. The Trumps are lousy liars with lousy memories. They didn't need to be good at lying because their grift/graft was contained at Trump Org. As others have noted, running for president was one of Trump's greatest mistakes.

(BTW, July 4th is Rube Goldberg's birthday.)

[C_U_L8R]

5. Fireworks and Popcorn.

This is gonna get good.
First the corp, then the officers.

[Budi]

6. Good start. By charging the Trump Org rather than individuals, is how the entire Org is brought down

Tax crimes are what brought down some of the biggest mobsters in history.

Not all their murders & other crimes, it was Tax Crimes & RICO.

Bust up the whole Trump Org & whomever else that leads to, then gets revealed.

Some rats will flee & some rats will talk, but the Trump Org, the brand, the players around the globe will be ruined.

Trump Org is a global criminal enterprise with many dirty hands & we are about to witness the beginning of an historic event.

[triron]

8. Also the CFO (an individual).

[wnylib]

20. Wouldn't this also have a ripple effect

on moneylaundering Russian thugs? They'll find other sources, but their investment in Trump and his crime family will suffer some losses, I think.

[triron]

21. Putty won't like this.

[wnylib]

22. I'm sure that Putin already knows

and has known for ssome time that this was coming. He has sources everywhere. Might account for his pouty face in the photo with Biden.

[Larissa]

27. Some things never smelled right

There was always a hint of certain individuals investing huge sums of cash in real estate. Some reports suggested that it was akin to money laundering. Not saying that that's what was going on. But it was noticeable enough for the press to report about it.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/17/trump-ocean-club-panama-money-laundering-reports

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/2020/09/15/trumps-sale-palm-beach-mansion-gains-scrutiny-again/5798386002/

[Aristus]

10. If the DA plays this right, they can make it difficult, if not impossible, for Trump to run in 2024.

I know there's the danger of a much smarter, less incompetent Trump wannabe getting the GOP nomination. But I doubt he or she would be able to get assholes to the polls the way Trump could.

[wnylib]

23. But Trump will be reinstated in August,

doncha know? That's what all his followers say, and how could they be wrong?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Lock them up!!!!!

[TeamProg]

16. "Bring it on"

I understand that these types of investigations always start small.

[Icono Classless Jerk]

17. Give PRAISE!!!

I don't know to whom, exactly, as I'm an agnostic, but do it anyway!

[triron]

19. Possible RICO charges?

'If prosecutors could show the Trump Organization and its executives systematically avoided paying taxes, they could file more serious charges alleging a scheme, lawyers said.'

[monkeyman1]

31. I've got a feeling that will be end of trump & no money left

[hamsterjill]

24. Well, I'm stil waiting for Bush and Cheney.

So pardon me if I wait to see the real impact of this.

[Grasswire2]

25. note this phrase: "...his lawyer said"

Must always parse words.

Just because the lawyer says he doesn't expect Trump will be charged may only mean that he's setting up a narrative that paints the prosecution of Trump as a surprise and makes space to whine, bitch, complain about it..

[Sneederbunk]

28. Never saw an organization do a perp walk.

[Dopers_Greed]

29. Must be why Spanky seems so rabid in recent interviews/rallies

[SunImp]

30. Hopefully this does some serious damage and keeps Trump awake at night