Sources say the Manhattan DA probe into the Trump Organization isn't expected to file any new charges
REUTERS/Emily Elconin
- A three-year Manhattan DA investigation into the Trump Organization is winding down.
- Two sources with knowledge of the case told Insider that no new charges are expected.
- A grand jury in the case had focused primarily on Donald Trump before being sent home in January.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office three-year investigation into the Trump Organization is winding down with no new charges on the horizon, according to people with inside knowledge of the probe.
Barring an unexpected change in course, the massive probe will result in just a single indictment: the one already on the books from July, charging the former president's company and its CFO with a relatively low-level payroll and tax scam, the people said.
"I wouldn't be optimistic about there being more," said one source whose involvement in the prosecution side of the case has recently ended.
As recently as late January, a special grand jury had been hearing evidence against not only former President Donald Trump, but "other family members," and company executives, the source said, stressing, "it was not clear that there would have been charges" against those others.
"There were a lot of people" being looked at, agreed a second source with knowledge of the case from late last year.
"Many of them named Trump," the second source added.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Still, the probe's primary focus had been Donald Trump himself.
And when that probe unraveled in February — as The New York Times first revealed — there was not much of an established case left behind to pursue against other defendants, the first source told Insider.
"Anything is possible," the source said of new charges being voted before the grand jury's six-month term expires this month. "But that is not really a realistic expectation."
The probe only indicted one person
Speculation about a far larger case had run rampant back in July, when the Trump Organization and its longtime top financial officer were indicted.
The grand jury indictment accused CFO, Allen Weisselberg, of dodging $900,000 in income taxes since 2005, by getting paid "off the books" in perks like free cars, apartments, and tuition for his grandkids. He has pleaded not guilty.
Carlo Allegri/Reuters/File Photo
The indictment made multiple references to unnamed "others" involved in the alleged scheme, including to an "unindicted co-conspirator #1."
Weisselberg attorney Bryan Skarlatos had been braced for new charges as recently as September, during the most recent court appearance in the case.
"We have strong reason to believe other indictments are coming," the lawyer told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who will preside over a trial tentatively set for August or September. Skarlatos declined to comment on this story.
But those unnamed "others" appear to be off the hook, as well.
The tax-dodge indictment had been voted by a prior grand jury, now long disbanded. As for the current grand jury — the one focused on Donald Trump — prosecutors did not aggressively pursue cases against any of those "others," the first source told Insider.
"They felt that another payroll-related tax case would not be significant enough to justify the [three-year] effort, and didn't bring them forward in the investigation into the president itself," the source said.
"Weisselberg, it sounds like, is the entirety of the payroll tax scheme," agreed a third source who is involved in that indictment.
Then came the unraveling.
Newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg decided in February that there was insufficient proof that Trump intentionally lied about the value of assets to banks, insurers and tax authorities, as The Times reported.
Craig Ruttle/AP
The probe's two lead prosecutors, Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, resigned in protest, with Pomerantz alleging in his resignation letter that Trump is provably guilty of "numerous" felonies, The Times first reported.
'Is there unfinished business?'
The grand jury that the two prosecutors left behind appears to have not heard evidence in nearly two months. At the least, there have been no public signs of life, such as news of new subpoenas.
Convened in November by Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance, its term expires this month.
A majority of 12 grand jurors would have to vote — before then — to extend their work for another six-month term, said attorney Michael Scotto, a former head of the Manhattan DA's Rackets Bureau.
"There's a clock ticking, but the DA can go to the grand jury and ask for a new clock," he said. "They can ask to extend the term so the grand jurors can finish what they started either way, indictment or no indictment."
He added, "Of course, the question is, is there unfinished business?"
Many observers sense the answer is no.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
As one sign things are winding down, evidence specific to Donald Trump's annual financial statements — many of which were signed by his son, Trump Organization Vice President Eric Trump — have been returned to the lawyer of Trump attorney-turned whistleblower Michael Cohen, on Cohen's request, according to multiple sources.
"It just doesn't seem like there's anything going on — we're not hearing about new subpoenas, or anything with the grand jury," said attorney Marc Frazier Scholl, a former senior investigative counsel with the Manhattan DA's office, where he prosecuted complex white collar crimes.
"I do believe — and it's pure speculation — that [Bragg] feels Letitia James should have it," said Scholl, who now works for Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss in Manhattan.
He was referring to New York attorney general James, whose own aggressive, three-year probe of the Trump Organization shows no sign of slowing.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Diana Florence, another veteran of the Manhattan DA's office, said that if there are indeed no more indictments coming, Bragg can still issue a grand jury report, as she herself had done several times when wrapping up complex financial prosecutions.
"A grand jury report can recommend to the state legislature, hey, there's a loophole that makes it difficult to prove 'X,'" she said.
Alternately, Bragg can issue his own report detailing his findings, as DA Robert Morgenthau did in 2002, explaining why his office sought the dismissal of all charges against the Central Park Five in the notorious rape case.
"When you hide under the cloak of grand jury secrecy in this big a case, you are depriving the public," especially given the international interest in the findings, Florence said. "And it fosters mistrust in the system."
The DA's office has declined to comment on the probe, except to characterize it as an ongoing investigation. Lawyers for Trump, the Trump family, and the Trump Organization declined to comment or were not immediately available.
The Weisselberg case is due back in Manhattan Supreme Court on June 13. A motion by the Trump Organization and Weisselberg to dismiss the indictment is pending.
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Thursday, April 07, 2022
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