Last updated on July 3rd, 2021 at 03:56 pm
Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, has officially surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office ahead of the expected criminal indictment against him and the company in connection with financial crimes. He will be arraigned later today.
The news comes after a Manhattan grand jury filed the indictments yesterday; they are set to be unsealed around 2 p.m. today.
The Trump Organization released a statement defending Weisselberg, who has been loyal to former President Donald Trump and his family for half a century. In it, they alleged that Weisselberg is being used by Manhattan prosecutors as “a pawn.”
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“The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics,” said the statement.
Trump’s lawyer has said Trump is not expected to be charged.
Earlier this week, news outlets reported that the Trump Organization’s lawyers had made a “last pitch†to forestall an indictment.
“There is no indictment coming down this week against the former president,†Trump Organization lawyer Rob Fischetti said in a telephone interview Monday. “I can’t say he’s out of the woods yet completely.â€
Trump, who could become the first president to be prosecuted after leaving office, has criticized District Attorney Cyrus Vance and his staff for being “rude, nasty, and totally biased in the way they are treating lawyers, representatives, and some of the wonderful long-term employees and people within the Trump Organization.â€
The news nevertheless complicates matters for the former president, who is weighing a 2024 presidential run.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
