One sentence in the Trump Organization indictment suggests more charges are coming, former prosecutor says
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Jacob Shamsian
Jul 8, 2021, 05:33 IST
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Sarasota Fairgrounds on July 3, 2021 in Sarasota, Florida, United States.
Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Manhattan DA's Trump Organization investigation is ongoing after last week's indictments.
Prosecutors say its CFO is "one of the largest individual beneficiaries of the defendants' scheme."
This suggests people other than Allen Weisselberg are under scrutiny and may be charged later.
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One sentence in the Manhattan district attorney's 15-count indictment against the Trump Organization suggested more people affiliated with the ex-president's family company could face charges, according to a former prosecutor.
Thursday's indictment alleged the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg participated in a years-long scheme to avoid paying taxes on $1.7 million worth of compensation. Both Weisselberg and attorneys for the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Randy Zelin, a former New York state prosecutor, told Insider the charging documents included a sentence that offered a clue about other people who may be under prosecutors' scrutiny.
"One of the largest individual beneficiaries of the defendants' scheme was Allen Weisselberg," the indictment said.
Zelin, now a defense attorney at Wilk Auslander LLP, said prosecutors' use of the word "individual" suggested other people - not just corporations - benefited from what the indictment alleged was the Trump Organization's tax-avoidance scheme.
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"The government could have said he was the only one, right? The government didn't have to use the word 'individual,'" Zelin said. "The fact that the government inserted the word 'individual' means that there may be others who enjoy perks."
He added: "The fact that the government said 'one of the largest' - that by its very nature means other people were doing the same or doing similar."
The indictment described an ongoing tax-avoidance scheme that prosecutors alleged began in 2005. Donald Trump personally led the company until 2017, and then turned over leadership to Weisselberg and his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr., who have disparaged the investigation as politically motivated.
Zelin said the Trump Organization closed ranks around Weisselberg after he was charged, which suggests prosecutors don't consider the executive a rogue actor.
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"If he had done this on his own, he would have then have been cheating the Trump Organization," Zelin said. "Not only wasn't he terminated, not only was he not suspended pending further investigation, not only was he not suspended once he was indicted - but apparently he's gone back to work since his indictment."
"There's certainly a lot of clues that would suggest that this indictment is just the beginning, rather than the end," Zelin said.
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