Why the Trump Org suddenly Fired Its Jailed Money Man’s Lawyer
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-trump-org-suddenly-fired-its-jailed-money-man-allen-weisselbergs-lawyer
In the article, Weisselberg denies Trump Org fired his lawyer.
This excerpt from the story:
But even though the corporate tax fraud trial is over, Weisselberg is still in hot water over the way he handled Trump Organization property appraisals. And that makes him a primary target for local New York County prosecutors, who would benefit from having a key witness testify about those details as they pursue yet another criminal case involving Trump.
...
But Bragg’s prosecutors are trying to get him to talk anyway.
According to two people familiar with the situation and one law enforcement source, prosecutors in recent weeks have discussed applying additional pressure to Weisselberg, who is currently behind bars in the dreaded New York City jail at Rikers Island until at least April.
Investigators are looking into the possibility of pursuing a second criminal case against Weisselberg, this time accusing him of insurance fraud, according to two of those sources. As the New York Attorney General’s Office laid out in a parallel investigation that resulted in a civil lawsuit filed last year, the Trump Organization got approval from Zurich Insurance Group to obtain surety bonds—the kind that guarantee work will be performed on a business project. However, state investigators claim that Weisselberg lied to a Zurich underwriter by turning over financial statements that purported to show property appraisals were done by an outside firm—when they weren’t.
“Weisselberg’s representations to Zurich’s underwriter… were false,” the lawsuit states. “The Trump Organization did not retain any professional appraisal firm to prepare any of the valuations used for the statements; instead, the valuations were prepared by Trump Organization personnel, contrary to what Zurich’s underwriter was expressly told and believed.”
New York AG Letitia James’ investigators argue that, had Zurich known the truth, it would have given the Trump Organization a deal on less favorable terms—or questioned its relationship with the company altogether.
Manhattan DA investigators are now dangling that over Weisselberg’s head, adding additional stress to his final weeks at Rikers, according to two sources.
That is consistent with a NYT Feb 2, 2023 story
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/nyregion/trump-weisselberg-fraud.html
The potential charges, which prosecutors conveyed to the former executive’s legal team this week, center on insurance fraud and could lead to a significant prison sentence for Mr. Weisselberg, who is 75.
AG Letitia James filed her civil action in Sept 2022. Manhattan DA's had been involved and assisted AG James a year or more before DA Bragg replaced DA Vance. So DA Bragg has known about Weisselberg's lies in the Zurich insurance scam since early last fall.
Convince me that Bragg just decided to bring this up with Weisselberg "
now"... again, from above: "Manhattan DA investigators are
now dangling that over Weisselberg’s head". I think the timing portion is BS. They would be all over that long before "now".
NYT had that pressure Weisselberg story two months ago. So that part of the Daily Beast story is old news and inaccurately reported as "now". They're not going to dance long - either he flips or they nail him and send him back to Rikers for a longer time.
It doesn't matter which attorney Trump Org or Weisselberg hires. It doesn't change the evidence they have of that crime Weisselberg is alleged to have committed (and Cohen maintains they committed those types of crimes). I strongly suspect that changed Bragg's position on the Stormy case - which allowed them to reconvene as Weisselberg is the new corroborating evidence of what happened AND he can help them pin a financial felony crime on Trump to elevate Stormy from a misdemeanor to a felony. AND he can help them nail Trump - which is the other case they've been meeting about on Thursdays including tomorrow.
That's my interpretation of this story.
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