Within days a Manhattan grand jury is expected to hand up an indictment of the Trump Organization for criminal activity. Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. cannot put a corporation – or any of ifs employees or officers – in prison, but an indictment might well bankrupt the company and perhaps the Trump family as well.
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Indictment Of The Trump Organization
When a business borrower is indicted for a serious crime, there is tremendous pressure on their banks to demand that their loans be repaid immediately. In addition, Trump himself has a few hundred million dollars of loans coming due within the next twelve months. So, along with the family business, the family itself may soon be bankrupt.
Vance has not doggedly pursued this investigation for the last two years just to bankrupt the Trump family. Their prosecution will not be deemed successful until Donald Trump goes to prison.
But at this juncture, Vance needs to show some tangible results from all the efforts of his investigators. Bringing this indictment, however, will serve as a place-holder, while the grand jury continues considering criminal charges against the former president, his children, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and perhaps a few other employees.
Trump's Crooked Business Practices
The grand jury will continue to meet for the next five months. Vance will almost certainly ask it to hand up additional indictments which specifically accuse Trump of illegal activities.
Vance’s investigators now possess nearly all of the last two decades of Donald Trump’s state and federal tax returns, as well as those of the family business. But the embattled ex-president has always been extremely careful not to leave a paper or email trail. On the other hand, he has a long record of crooked business practices, not to mention a trail of unpaid bills. There seems a good likelihood he will be nailed for federal and state income tax evasion and perhaps even money laundering.
Weisselberg is the key figure in this saga. If he flips to save himself – and perhaps his two sons – from going to prison, his testimony might be enough to put Trump behind bars for the rest of his life.
