Has Allen Weisselberg flipped? Is that why there is now a criminal investigation into Trump Org.?

[skip fox]

The civil case the NY Attorney General ( Letitia James) and the Manhattan D.A. were investigating concerning the Trump Organization has suddenly* become a criminal matter.

Did it change because of cooperation by the Trump Organization's Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg?

We know investigators were probing his possible tax evasion and other possible illegalities done by Weisselberg and his children.

The suddenness of the switch (civil to criminal) suggests something of importance has occurred and the reported increased pressure on Weisselberg suggests he "broke."



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*(Some commentator have said that it may have become a criminal investigation in the recent past, not just yesterday. The timing is not particularly relevant concerning the issue at hand.)

[Phoenix61]

1. Remember when the FBI collected those boxes

of records and a laptop from Weisselberg’s son’s ex-wife?

[Botany]

2. So much stuff

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/19/new-york-attorney-general-says-the-trump-organization-is-being-investigated-in-a-criminal-capacity.html?__source=androidappshare

There is tax and bank fraud right here. Buying a property for 7.5 million, then putting a $290 million, but later putting
a $19.5 million value on it for tax purposes.

[Me.]

3. THat Was My First Thought

[Beastly Boy]

4. Maybe the criminal investigation was announced now because Weisselberg hasn't flipped

To put more of his skin in the game. He is now facing the possibility of serving time himself, not just parting with the company’s money.

[msfiddlestix]

5. I'm inferring that he hasn't flipped yet.

I'm inferring the Prosecutors have had no success in getting his cooperation they've been seeking, and that they made this announcement as an inducement for him and others to start cooperating.

That was a theory posed I think by Andrew Weisman (sp?) on O'Donnell's show last night, if memory serves.

As soon as he said something to that effect, it made sense to me. And although he didn't come out and say as much,

I also infer that the Prosecutor's case isn't as strong (to hold up in court) as we have been assuming and were hoping would be locked down at this point.

Sort of adding to my already pessimistic outlook when this "concludes".

[skip fox]

9. I missed that part of the show. It makes sense.

After all, they didn't need to publicly announce it. They had only to inform the Trump Organization.

So doing so publicly is instrumental.

But then again, that office has been inordinately public, I think I heard.

[msfiddlestix]

11. it's perplexing. we wait and see

we wait on edge of our seat, because our democracy depends partly on justice.

At no other time in our history, has it been more important in the context of the players and events.

[Azathoth]

6. He hasn't necessarily flipped, but clearly they now have enough to secure indictments

I highly doubt they would have made the announcement if they didn't already have enough to file charges

The strategy may be to announce the ship is sinking and there's only one seat in the lifeboat, and then see which rat surrenders first.

[msfiddlestix]

10. I agree with the second part, but I take a different view wrt to enough charges to file, or secured

enough indictments. My view is they would have simply filed charges based on evidence they have already gathered.

Seems like if along the way they acquire additional evidence/witness testimony... they can just amend existing charges, or bring additional charges accordingly I believe.

In other words, the public announcement signaled the need for Weissellburg and other witnesses to come forward and offer the evidence Prosecutors are seeking in order to nail the criminal charges. That might likely be perceived as a weakness in the case, and in turn backfire on the prosecutors, which I'm sure they thought of. but they felt it was their only gambit.

Bottom line they don't have enough yet to secure indictments or a guilty verdict at this juncture for criminal offenses, and I feel like Weissellberg now knows that with a level of certainty.

But I hope I am completely wrong. Perhaps prosecutors are playing a game of chess far more sophisticated than i can wrap my head around. It just seems like they've had more than enough time to successfully bring these perps to justice.

[moondust]

7. Maybe.

In February 2019 Michael Cohen explained to Congress how the former guy inflated and deflated asset values when it served his interest. That probably constitutes fraud. I've been expecting more news from Weisselberg ever since but there hasn't been much. They may not need Weisselberg if they have all the documents--which apparently are quite numerous and may be taking a long time to analyze.

February 2021:
Prosecutors just got millions of pages of Trump documents. His taxes are only the beginning.

[JT45242]

8. The private school checks are the tipping point to RICO -- agreement should be in the works

What we know ..

Checks on multiple occasions from multiple accounts were paid as part of compensation to the CFO in an attempt to avoid taxes for both him and the company share of FICA.

You also have the manipulation of property values for bank vs tax purposes. So tax and bank fraud.

Has all the hallmarks of a RICO case.

The CFO sees that they have him by the short hairs and is going to try to save his own skin.

He is probably singing like a canary right now in order to get the agreement in place.

If I were him, I would do it -- he knows they were money laundering, he knows how many crimes they committed.

He may be able to negotiate that his family gets to keep some of his ill gotten gains and not forfeit all of it.

Tick, tock, the clock is running.