(Reuters) – When lawyers asked Donald Trump more than a decade ago to identify who estimated the values of some of his signature properties, he shrugged and pointed to his longtime accountant, Allen Weisselberg.
“In the end I think probably Mr. Weisselberg,” he said, testifying in a 2007 defamation lawsuit filed against a journalist, a case that depended on whether Trump had inflated the value of his business empire. “I never got too involved, except to express my opinion.”
A judge dismissed that lawsuit, but Trump’s comments illustrate the challenges Weisselberg, 73, now faces, as he is investigated in Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s investigation into whether the former US president and his Trump organization have financial committed crimes.
Few people have been as deeply involved in Trump’s finances as Weisselberg, a trusted figure in the Trump family business who started working for Trump’s father, Fred, in the company’s Brooklyn office in 1973, where he paid bills and tracked apartment tower rental payments.
Legal experts and a source familiar with the criminal investigation say the apparent purpose of the prosecutors is to convince Weisselberg to cooperate in the investigation into Trump’s course of action.
“They want him to turn around,” said the person familiar with the investigation.
A spokesman for Vance declined to comment. Lawyers for Weisselberg and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
The Manhattan prosecutor said in an August filing that the office is investigating “potentially extensive and long-term criminal behavior” at the Trump Organization, although he has not fully disclosed the scope of the investigation. In a September filing, he said allegations of “mountainous” misconduct could warrant a grand jury investigation into possible tax fraud, insurance fraud and the falsification of corporate documents.
Vance’s office and a separate civil investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James are both investigating whether Trump misrepresented the value of his assets for tax breaks, among other possible violations.
Weisselberg’s unique position in the Trump organization places him among a small number of people who can provide prosecutors with crucial evidence of intent to commit fraud. Legal experts say Trump could try to distance himself from any controversial appraisals of his properties and businesses by citing Weisselberg’s role as financial gatekeeper, as he did in the 2007 defamation case.
“It may very well be that Weisselberg will be Trump’s defense in a criminal case,” said Michael Bachner, a lawyer who once worked as a prosecutor for Vance’s Manhattan office.
If Trump claims he relied solely on the advice of his accountants and attorneys, Weisselberg would be in the position of himself having to carry the fire for potentially fraudulent transactions, Bachner said – unless the accountant makes a deal with prosecutors and prosecutors. Trump gets involved.
“If I’m Trump, I must be nervous about this,” he said.
The source familiar with the investigation said that, in addition to investigating Weisselberg, prosecutors also asked questions about his sons, who also had ties to Trump: Jack Weisselberg, a director at Ladder Capital – a real estate investment firm that was a creditor to four Trump. properties – and Barry Weisselberg, who operated ice rinks under Trump contracts with New York City.
Ladder Capital did not respond to requests for comment. Other Ladder executives, but not Jack Weisselberg, appear on loan documents involving Trump.
Jack and Barry Weisselberg did not respond to requests for comment.
UNIQUE POSITION OF TRUST
On March 1, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s last-ditch effort to keep his tax records private, Vance’s office obtained millions of pages of Trump’s tax and finance data. His office has also added a prosecutor experienced in organized crime and corruption, Mark Pomerantz, to the Trump investigation team and interviewed Ladder Capital staff.
As chief financial officer and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, Weisselberg developed a unique position of trust at Trump, according to interviews with four former Trump Organization officials. The accountant handled Trump’s personal finances and the company’s most sensitive financial information, officials said.
Barbara Res, Trump’s former construction manager, said Weisselberg was part of the inner circle of the Trump family, but he kept a modest profile. “He was the only one of the executives Donald Trump would name,” she said. “He was such a person.”
Res said Trump trusted Weisselberg as a pair of eyes to make sure Trump’s other accountants and lawyers were doing their jobs. “Allen wouldn’t leave the company,” she said. Allen didn’t want to talk; Allen could be trusted to keep things quiet. “
When former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen arranged a hush payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels, Weisselberg was involved in cutting the checks, Cohen testified at a February 2019 hearing held by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Delegates. Weisselberg obtained limited immunity from federal prosecutors to provide information in the investigation aimed at Cohen; he was not charged with wrongdoing. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion and campaign finance violations.
Vance could request a court order granting him access to Weisselberg’s testimony in the federal case against Cohen, legal experts said.
During the committee hearing in 2019, Cohen identified Weisselberg as one of Trump’s executives who knew Trump had inflated assets in statements to insurance companies with the aim of lowering premiums. Responding to questions from Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cohen said he could not confirm a report from the New York Times on whether Trump was reporting inherited real estate values too low to lower his taxes.
“Who knows the answers to those questions?” she asked.
Allen Weisselberg, said Cohen.
Reporting by Jason Szep and Joseph Tanfani; edited by Brian Thevenot