NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer at former President Donald Trump’s namesake company, will plead not guilty to a slate of tax crimes on Thursday, his attorney said ahead of an expected arraignment in downtown Manhattan.
Donning a dark suit without a tie, the 73-year-old Weisselberg surrendered at the Manhattan district attorney’s office shortly before 6:30 a.m., accompanied by his lawyer, Mary Mulligan.
The exact nature of the charges against Weisselberg won’t be known until his arraignment, which is set for 2:15 p.m. EDT, but Mulligan maintained her client’s innocence.
“Mr. Weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court,” Mulligan said.
A Manhattan grand jury returned an indictment against Weisselberg late Wednesday. Sources familiar with the matter told the New York Daily News that the indictment is expected to charge that Weisselberg for years illegally avoided paying taxes on fringe benefits from the company, like apartments, Mercedes-Benz cars and private school tuition fees.
The Trump Organization, as an entity, will be indicted alongside Weisselberg on similar charges, sources said. Trump Organization attorneys are expected to plead not guilty on the company’s behalf.
There’s currently no indication that Trump or members of his family will be charged in the investigation, which is being conducted jointly by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
However, Vance’s office noted that the DA would not hold a news conference after Weisselberg’s arraignment because his case relates to “an active, ongoing investigation,” suggesting more charges could be forthcoming.
After Weisselberg turned himself in, the Trump Organization released a statement defending its seasoned CFO, describing him as a family man who has worked at the company for 48 years.
The statement decried the pending charges and claimed that New York prosecutors are attempting to use Weisselberg “as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former president.”
The custodian of the Trump Organization’s finances, described by Trump in 2004 as a guy who “knows how to get things done,” Weisselberg has been a key subject in Vance’s investigation for months.
Investigators with the DA and AG offices put immense pressure on Weisselberg in an apparent attempt to get him to cooperate against Trump, even exploring whether his adults sons allegedly committed similar tax crimes.
But Weisselberg — who has worked for Trump since the 1980s and was first hired by his late father, Fred Trump — apparently refused to cooperate with prosecutors.
The charges add even more pressure on Weisselberg as prosecutors seek to use threats of hefty fines and potentially even jail time to get him to flip on Trump.
Jennifer Weisselberg, the Trump executive’s estranged daughter-in-law, has been cooperating with prosecutors and indicated a willingness to testify against her former father-in-law.
In addition to the alleged company perks, James and Vance continue to investigate whether Trump and his company illegally manipulated asset values over a decadeslong period to lower its taxable income or obtain other favorable financial benefits — practices that could amount to a variety of fraud.
The charges against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization are likely to mark the beginning of an acrimonious court battle.
No other sitting or former American president has ever had his company face a criminal indictment, and Trump vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
He has lashed out against Vance and James at an increasing rate in recent months as the New York prosecutors turned up the heat on Weisselberg and subpoenaed other Trump Organization executives, including controller Jeff McConney, to testify before the grand jury.
Earlier this week, amid word that charges were imminent, Trump claimed his company’s alleged fringe benefits scheme is “standard practice throughout the U.S. business community, and in no way a crime.”
On Wednesday, he said in an interview on Fox News that the coming indictments were “all nonsense.”
“New York radical-left prosecutors come after me — you gotta fight,” he said.
