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Attorneys for the Trump Organization were advised that criminal charges will be filed in Manhattan as soon as Thursday, July 1, including top target, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, and other lead members of the organization.
The former president himself is not expected to be charged with anything criminal.
Trial attorney Daniel Goldman, one of the lead counsels on the House Impeachment Inquiry and former Assistant Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the criminal charges could be “devastating” to the organization.
“I can’t underscore enough how devastating an indictment would be to the Trump (Organization),” Goldman said. “Every lender would call their loans and no way Trump (Organization) can pay them all, likely leading to bankruptcy.
“Weisselberg may not cooperate without more serious charges, but any charge will doom the (Trump Organization).”
Goldman later said on NBC that unless Weisselberg cooperates, a case is unlikely to be made against the former president.
“Because (Alan Weisselberg) is not cooperating, I don't personally believe that there is a case that can be made against Donald Trump. You need a witness to testify that Donald Trump knew about all of the misrepresentations likely to be charged,” he said.
“As a backup measure, the DA's office is targeting the corporation Donald Trump runs. It's a fallback measure, but it could have devastating consequences like potential bankruptcy.”
He later added: “As I’ve been saying for a while, if Allen Weisselberg does not cooperate with the Manhattan DA’s office — and all indications are that he has not and will not — that office will not be able to criminally charge Donald Trump for any of the conduct under investigation.”
According to NBC, at least two representatives from the Trump Organization have been told that charges are imminent, and are expected to be made public at approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
Trump’s lawyers are expected to move to immediately dismiss any charges that are levied against the organization, charges that attorney Ron Fischetti criticized for their scope.
“In my more than 50 years of practice, never before have I seen the District Attorney’s Office target a company over employee compensation or fringe benefits,” Fischetti said.
“The IRS would not, and has not, brought a case like this. Even the financial institutions responsible for causing the 2008 financial crises, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, were not prosecuted.”
“The DA listened to us, but obviously we didn’t persuade them,” he added. “They’re doing this just to hurt Donald Trump himself. There are no charges against him at all in this.”
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