Trump Organization believes Allen Weisselberg is being used as a hostage in an attempt to harm the former president
The prosecution against Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s Trump Organization, is politically motivated and has nothing to do with justice. This is stated in a statement by a company spokesman released on Thursday by ABC TV channel after Weisselberg appeared on the same day in the office of the New York District Attorney, who is investigating the Trump Organization, which is suspected of violating the country’s tax laws.
“He [Weisselberg] is being used as a hostage <…> in an attempt to harm the former president”, – the TV channel quoted the said statement. – “The district attorney is opening a criminal case concerning additional employee benefits, which is neither the Internal Revenue Service nor any other district attorney would never even think to initiate. This is not justice, this is politics. “
As reported earlier by The New York Times, early Thursday morning, Weisselberg, accompanied by his lawyer Mary Mulligan, entered the building where the office of District Attorney Cyrus Vance, as well as the criminal courts, is located. He and the company’s attorneys are expected to appear in court on the same day, where they – the chief financial officer personally and the company as a whole – will be charged, presented Wednesday by a Manhattan grand jury. The details of the charges will be revealed at this hearing.
Lawyers for Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have refrained from commenting on alleged violations by him and the company. According to local media reports, the chief financial officer and the company will be charged with violating tax laws in providing financial incentives to Trump Organization employees. Weisselberg, as reported this week by CNN, has refused to cooperate with an investigation seeking him to testify as part of an ongoing investigation. It is not excluded, noted CNN, that after the presentation of charges, the financial director will change his position.
The proceedings concerned the role that Trump allegedly could have played in paying money for silence to women who claimed to have had an intimate relationship with him in the past. In addition, the proceedings concern alleged violations committed by his company in the tax and banking sectors.
In February, Vance gained access to tax information from the ex-president and the Trump Organization. Trump has for several years tried unsuccessfully through the courts to terminate the proceedings initiated by Vance. Trump’s political opponents have been demanding that Trump publish tax returns since the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Trump refuses to do this under various pretexts.