Prosecutors have increased the frequency of their interviews with Cohen since they began in the fall of 2019, shortly after the attorney’s office sued Trump’s accountant for his taxes.
Cohen, who worked for Trump for about ten years and once said he would take a bullet for Trump, knows the inner workings of the company. Prosecutors are interested in speaking with Cohen as he can help explain the company’s culture and relationships between Trump, his family and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the Trump Organization falsely inflated the value of its assets when dealing with lenders and insurance companies and deflated them when filing taxes.
They are also investigating tax deductions for fees paid to consultants, including Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter, and easements given at Seven Springs, a family estate in Westchester County, NY.
Cohen told Congress that Trump inflated and deflated the value of certain assets to get loans and lower his tax bill. He was also involved in the silent payment settlement and pleaded guilty to nine charges, including campaign finance violations, in connection with the settlement.
Investigators met Cohen three times in late 2019 while in a federal prison in Otisville, New York.
Friday’s meeting is believed to be the first meeting to take place in person at the prosecutor’s office, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cohen will serve the remainder of his sentence from his home in Manhattan.
The investigation by the public prosecutor has gained momentum this year. In February, Cy Vance, the district attorney, recruited Mark Pomerantz, a renowned former federal prosecutor, to supervise the investigation. Pomerantz has spent decades working as a lawyer on financial investigations and has an understanding of how those cases are brought and how companies and individuals defend themselves against them. They also engaged an external forensic accounting firm.
Last month, after a 16-month court battle, Vance’s office was given access to eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns and related data. Researchers have taken the records by surprise, which are on the millions of pages in total. Vance is not running for reelection and, according to people familiar with the case, he will likely decide whether to sue a case before leaving office in December. According to people familiar with the case, the decision could take months.