New York prosecutors have given former President Trump’s attorneys until Monday afternoon to provide an argument as to why the Trump Organization should not face criminal charges, The Washington Post reported.
Last week, it was reported that the Manhattan district attorney’s office was considering bringing criminal charges against the Trump Organization as a whole and against executive Allen Weisselberg. The New York Times reported that Trump’s attorneys had made an appeal to prosecutors from the district attorney’s office to not file charges against the company.
Two sources close to the matter told the Post that Trump Organization attorneys now have until Monday to make a case as to why the charges shouldn’t be filed.
The investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office has to do with the company’s financial dealings and whether it inflated the value of some assets to deceive lenders and insurers. The charges against Weisselberg would reportedly be over tax issues.
Last month, the New York attorney general’s office announced that the investigation, which initially had been civil in nature, had been expanded to a “criminal capacity” as well.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA. We have no additional comment at this time,” a spokesperson for the New York attorney general’s office said at the time.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) are working together on the investigation. No charges have been filed yet.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump Organization. The Post said Alan Futerfas, an attorney for the Trump Organization, did not respond to its request for comment.
Trump blasted state and local prosecutors last month, calling the investigation the “greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of the United States.”
“Working in conjunction with Washington, these Democrats want to silence and cancel millions of voters because they don’t want ‘Trump’ to run again,” he added in a statement last month.