The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Thursday unsealed an indictment against Donald Trump’s company and his longtime C.F.O., Allen Weisselberg. The charges against the Trump Organization include a 15-year scheme to defraud the government by, in part, compensating its executives with off-the-book perks. Weisselberg was separately charged with grand larceny, tax fraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business records to avoid taxes on $1.7 million in compensation. Both the organization and Weisselberg pleaded not guilty. Deemed a flight risk, Weisselberg was forced to turn over his passport.
Some believe that today’s indictment may merely be the first round of charges and that Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is still hoping to win cooperation from Weisselberg as the investigation continues.
Air Mail wrote about many of the Trump Organization’s shady business dealings back in April in a two-part story—“On Thin Ice” and “In the Red”—about the case and the role that Weisselberg’s ex-daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, who is a lead witness, has played in it.
Johanna Berkman is a New York–based writer