The Trump Organization and its chief financial officer will be criminally charged by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday.
The company owned by former U.S. President Donald Trump faces multiple charges related to missed tax payments and allegedly fraudulent financial statements.
Sources familiar with the matter said the alleged tax crimes involved the release of perks and benefits to employees. It isn't clear how many charges will be made.
Apart from his company and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg Trump won't be charged. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing by his company. A separate source said Weisselberg agreed to turn himself in. He is expected to meet with prosecutors Friday.
Over the past week, lawyers from the Trump Organization have met with prosecutors to present their arguments as to why the company shouldn't face criminal charges.
The indictments are the culmination of a two-year investigation into the company's accounting, which began with an inquiry into alleged hush-money payments made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
The investigation eventually expanded to include alleged tax fraud on certain employee benefits, such as rent-free apartments, private school tuitions and car leases. Prosecutors concentrated on cash bonuses to employees and whether taxes were paid on them.
Last year, prosecutors shifted their attention to Weisselberg to get him to cooperate. Prosecutors gathered evidence against the executive with the help of his former daughter-in-law Jennifer Weisselberg. Prosecutors acquired financial records which will be presented in evidence.
"We have been working with prosecutors for many months now as part of this tax and financial investigation and have provided a large volume of evidence that allowed them to bring these charges. We are gratified to hear that the district attorney's office is moving forward with a criminal case," Jennifer Weisselberg's lawyer, Duncan Levin, said.
The district attorney's office is expected to expand the case to include the Trump Organization's alleged misstatement on the value of its real estate properties for financial benefit.
