Donald Trump\u2019s company and his longtime finance chief are expected to be charged Thursday with tax-related crimes stemming from a New York investigation into the former president\u2019s busi\u2026<\/b>
\nBy MICHAEL R. SISAK Donald Trump\u2019s company and his longtime finance chief are expected to be charged Thursday with tax-related crimes stemming from a New York investigation into the former president\u2019s business dealings, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The charges against the Trump Organization and the company\u2019s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, appear to involve non-monetary benefits the company gave to top executives, possibly including use of apartments, cars and school tuition. The people were not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that charges were expected Thursday. The charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization would be first criminal cases to arise from the two-year probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., a Democrat who leaves office at the end of the year. Prosecutors have been scrutinizing Trump\u2019s tax records, subpoenaing documents and interviewing witnesses, including Trump insiders and company executives. A grand jury was recently empaneled to weigh evidence and New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Vance on the criminal probe while she continues a civil investigation of Trump. Messages seeking comment were left with a spokesperson and lawyers for the Trump Organization. Weisselberg\u2019s lawyer, Mary Mulligan, declined to comment. The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office declined to comment. Trump\u2019s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Jason Miller, a longtime former senior adviser to the Republican, spun the looming charges as \u201cpolitically terrible for the Democrats.\u201d \u201cThey told their crazies and their supplicants in the mainstream media this was about President Trump. Instead, their Witch Hunt is persecuting an innocent 80 year-old man for maybe taking free parking!\u201d Miller tweeted, apparently referring to Weisselberg, who is 73. Trump, who\u2019s been critical of President Joe Biden\u2019s immigration policies, was in Texas visiting the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday. He did not respond to shouted questions about the charges as he participated in a briefing with state officials. Trump had blasted the investigation in a statement Monday, deriding Vance\u2019s office as \u201crude, nasty, and totally biased\u201d in their treatment of Trump company lawyers, representatives, and long-term employees. Trump, in the statement, said the company\u2019s actions were \u201cthings that are standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime\u201d and that Vance\u2019s probe was an investigation was \u201cin search of a crime.\u201d Trump Organization lawyers met virtually with Manhattan prosecutors last week in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade them from charging the company. Prosecutors gave the lawyers a Monday deadline to make the case that criminal charges shouldn\u2019t be filed. Ron Fischetti, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, told the AP this week that there was no indication Trump himself was included in the first batch of charges. \u201cThere is no indictment coming down this week against the former president,\u201d Fischetti said. \u201cI can\u2019t say he\u2019s out of the woods yet completely.\u201d Weisselberg, a loyal lieutenant to Trump and his real estate-developer father, Fred, came under scrutiny, in part, because of questions about his son\u2019s use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost. Barry Weisselberg managed a Trump-operated ice rink in Central Park. Barry\u2019s ex-wife, Jen Weisselberg, has been cooperating with the investigation and turned over reams of tax records and other documents to investigators. \u201cWe have been working with prosecutors for many months now as part of this tax and financial investigation and have provided a large volume of evidence that allowed them to bring these charges,\u201d Jen Weisselberg\u2019s lawyer, Duncan Levin, said Wednesday. \u201cWe are gratified to hear that the DA\u2019s office is moving forward with a criminal case.\u201d Allen Weisselberg has worked for the Trump Organization since 1973. The case against him could give prosecutors the means to pressure the executive into cooperating and telling them what he knows about Trump\u2019s business dealings. Prosecutors subpoenaed another long-time Trump finance executive, senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney, to testify in front of the grand jury in the spring. Under New York law, grand jury witnesses are granted immunity and can not be charged for conduct they testify about. Prosecutors probing untaxed benefits to Trump executives have also been looking at Matthew Calamari, a former Trump bodyguard turned chief operating officer, and his son, the company\u2019s corporate director of security. However, a lawyer for the Calamaris said Wednesday that he didn\u2019t expect them to be charged. \u201cAlthough the DA\u2019s investigation obviously is ongoing, I do not expect charges to be filed against either of my clients at this time,\u201d said the lawyer, Nicholas Gravante. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Weslaco, Texas, and Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report. ___ On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com\/mikesisak<\/p>\n