It looks like they are putting the full court press on Alan Weisselberg:
The New York attorney general’s office has been criminally investigating the chief financial officer of former President Donald J. Trump’s company for months over tax issues, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The office of the attorney general, Letitia James, notified the Trump Organization in a January letter that it had opened a criminal investigation related to the chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, the people said. The investigators have examined whether taxes were paid on fringe benefits that Mr. Trump gave him, including cars and tens of thousands of dollars in private school tuition for at least one of Mr. Weisselberg’s grandchildren.
Previously, Ms. James’s office had been conducting only a civil investigation into the Trump Organization, meaning it could sue the company and seek fines, but not criminal charges.
The focus on perks and Mr. Weisselberg overlaps with the Manhattan district attorney’s long-running criminal fraud investigation of Mr. Trump and his family business. The district attorney’s office has been investigating the extent to which Mr. Trump handed out fringe benefits to some of his executives, including Mr. Weisselberg, and whether taxes were paid on those perks, The New York Times previously reported.
In recent weeks, Ms. James’s office suggested to the company in a new letter that it had broadened the criminal investigation beyond the focus on Mr. Weisselberg, one of the people said. It was unclear how the inquiry had widened.
In general, fringe benefits — which can include cars, flights and club memberships — are taxable, though there are some exceptions. Companies are typically responsible for withholding such taxes from an employee’s paycheck.
Rather than risk bumping into each other, the two investigative offices recently began collaborating, another person with knowledge of the matter said. Two assistant attorneys general from Ms. James’s office have joined the district attorney’s team, which has been seeking to turn Mr. Weisselberg into a cooperating witness against Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, people with knowledge of that effort said.
Mr. Weisselberg has not been accused of wrongdoing. His lawyer, Mary E. Mulligan, declined to comment.
The attorney general’s office revealed the collaboration Tuesday, announcing, “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan D.A.” The office did not comment further, and the district attorney’s office declined to comment.
In addition to the fringe benefits, Ms. James and the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., have examined whether Mr. Trump’s company inflated the value of his properties to obtain favorable loans and lowered the values to reduce taxes.
I still have my doubts that this will come to anything. But maybe that’s just me being a pessimist.
I have to say that I enjoyed this commentary today, however:
Michael Cohen appeared on MSNBC Wednesday to give an interesting take on the investigations surrounding Donald Trump. The former Trump personal attorney and convicted felon was asked by Joy Reid for his view on the news that the New York Attorney General has been looking into the tax records of Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
According to one report, “Prosecutors are seeking to find leverage that could sway Weisselberg into cooperating with authorities.”
During the segment, Cohen alleged the Trump Organization used lies and gimmicks to fudge the company’s tax returns, and that “every single penny in and every penny out went through Allen Weisselberg’s desk and then [was] reported before and after to Donald J. Trump.”
Cohen then recommended that Trump’s associates and even members of Trump’s family should get their own lawyers because Trump would flip on them given the chance.
“Everyone keeps talking about oh Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,” said Cohen. “What did we get off his electronics [in the FBI search of his home]? What are they going to get now from the Trump Organization? How are they going to get Weisselberg to flip?”
He then took Reid by surprise by claiming, “I think Donald Trump is going to flip on all of them. What do you think about that? Including his children.”
Cohen elaborated:
I really believe that Donald Trump cares for only himself, and he realizes that his goose is cooked. So when he turns around and he gets questioned about what you were just asking about – inflation – “It wasn’t me. It was Allen! It was my accountant. It was the appraiser.”
It’s never Donald. See, this is the problem. It’s never, ever Donald Trump. It’s always somebody else. It wasn’t Donald Trump who had the affair. It wasn’t Donald Trump who directed me to make the payments to Stormy Daniels. It wasn’t Donald Trump who got the benefit of the relationship and the actions. It was Michael Cohen. And I’m the bad guy into it. Why? Because I didn’t take the fall.
[…]
What’s going to happen when all of a sudden they turn around and start asking him about his tax returns or about the devaluation of the assets or the way that he took deductions?
‘I don’t do my taxes. It’s my accountant.’ So he’s going to turn on his accountant and point the finger. He’s going to say ‘Don Jr. handled that, Ivanka handled that. Melania. Don’t take me. Take Melania!’ He’s going to tell them to take everyone except for himself.
Lol.
Here’s another bit of speculation from someone who worked with Trump: