A New York state judge ruled on Friday that a criminal fraud and tax evasion prosecution against the Trump Organization and its former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, could proceed.
Weisselberg and the company asked a judge in February to dismiss the 15 charges against them. Judge Juan Merchan dismissed one of several counts of tax evasion against the Trump Organization, but allowed all others to stand.
Lawyers for Weisselberg and the company did not immediately comment on Friday’s rulings.
The Trump Organization and Weisselberg accused prosecutors of targeting them “based on political animosity” toward former President Donald Trump. Weisselberg also argued that he received immunity from certain federal charges when he testified before a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Jury selection will take place on October 24.
Prosecutors said in a May 23 filing that the Weisselberg investigation was spurred by a November 2, 2020 Bloomberg article about benefits Weisselberg allegedly received.
“The article described numerous key facts relevant to the crimes charged,” Manhattan District Attorney Solomon Shinerock wrote in May.
The Trump Organization was charged in July 2021 to offer executives lavish untaxed perks, which prosecutors have called “employee perquisites.” Weisselberg, a 74-year-old who had been with Trump in the business for decades, was accused of receiving $1.7 million in benefits, including an apartment and a car.
Weisselberg and company pleaded not guilty.
Merchan said that in September he would hear arguments on a request by Weisselberg’s team to suppress evidence from two Manhattan District Attorney investigators who he said “started a conversation” while Weisselberg was in court. detention. A statement attributed to Weisselberg from the conversation – in which he described the long drive from his Long Island home – was included in court documents. Lawyers for Weisselberg, who is accused of moving into a corporate apartment in New York without paying taxes on the alleged benefit, argued that he was essentially tricked into disclosing information he didn’t might not have had with a lawyer present.
In the motion to dismiss the charges, they claimed the company and Weisselberg were “incorrectly targeted” due to policies. They pointed to statements by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has criticized Trump, a Republican. Two attorneys from James’ office are assigned to the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation.
Trump sat for a court-ordered deposition in James’ case on Wednesday, invoking the Fifth Amendment and then answering “the same answer” hundreds of times during about four hours of questioning.
Trump’s attorneys have previously said they fear Trump’s deposition may be turned over to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Lawyers in James’ office and a judge overseeing his investigation said his investigators were authorized to do so.
Lawyers for Weisselberg also wrote in January that charges against Weisselberg should be dropped because he was granted immunity from certain federal charges when he testified before a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. .
Shinerock responded that no one on his team “has ever seen or been briefed on the content of Weisselberg’s testimony” against Cohen, but asserted that federal immunity does not apply to state charges against Weisselberg.