Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is set to leave office without bringing criminal charges against Trump

CyVance — Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.
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Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is set to leave office without criminally charging Trump.
But his successor, Alvin Bragg, has indicated that he'll keep up the pressure on Trump.
A top lawyer in Vance's office who's spearheaded the Trump probe also said he's staying on the investigation.

Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is set to leave office next week without bringing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

But Vance's successor, Alvin Bragg, has indicated that he'll keep up the pressure on Trump, and there are other signs that the investigation isn't slowing down any time soon.

Carey Dunne, who currently serves as general counsel to Vance and who's spearheaded the DA's arguments related to the Trump investigation in both federal court and the Supreme Court, has agreed to stay on the case, according to CNN. Bragg also wants Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor who tackled organized crime cases and whom Vance hired to work on the Trump investigation, to stay on.

"This is obviously a consequential case, one that merits the attention of the DA personally," Bragg told CNN in a recent interview.

He added, referring to Dunne and Pomerantz: "It's hard for me to evaluate not knowing the facts, but just having worked on lots of investigations that are complex, I can say that you've got two very good lawyers that have been looking at it for a while. I think it would be a disservice to Manhattan to lose them."

Vance's years-long investigation into the Trump Organization focuses mainly on whether Trump or senior executives at his company artificially inflated or deflated the value of their properties for loan and tax purposes, respectively.

Most of the charges stemming from the criminal investigation so far have focused on tax-related schemes; earlier this year, prosecutors indicted the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, on 15 felony counts including tax fraud and grand larceny.

But in recent months, the criminal inquiry has zeroed in on if the Trump Organization or its executives manipulated property values for financial reasons.

Prosecutors in the DA's office issued new subpoenas as recently as last month for records of Trump's properties including hotels, golf clubs, and offices, The Times reported.

The Washington Post previously reported that among other things, prosecutors are scrutinizing a Trump-owned building located at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan. Property records reviewed by The Post showed that the Trump Organization told lenders in 2012 that the building was worth $527 million, but a few months later told tax officials that it was worth just $16.7 million. Tax experts have previously said the discrepancy could point to a ploy to pay lower property taxes.

The Times reported that in addition to subpoenaing records for Trump properties, investigators recently interviewed an employee at Deutsche Bank, which has long been Trump's main lender and drawn scrutiny for its willingness to loan him money when most other banks denied him.

The New York attorney general's office is working with the DA's office on the criminal inquiry and is also conducting a separate civil probe into the Trump Organization.

The civil investigation has picked up steam in recent weeks, and a person familiar with the investigation told The Post that attorney general Tish James is looking into whether rampant fraud "permeated the Trump Organization."

James, who suspended her nascent campaign for New York governor to continue on as attorney general, wants Trump to sit for a deposition on January 7, according to The Post.

Trump has not been charged with any crimes and has denied wrongdoing in both the DA's investigation and James' civil inquiry. He's also gone on the offensive with his public statements, painting both investigations as politically motivated witch hunts, and his legal team filed a lawsuit this week accusing James of trying to "harass" him with investigations.

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