Three years after it began its criminal investigation of Donald Trump�s
Trump Organization and its executives, the Manhattan District Attorney�s
Office is reportedly expected to charge the ex-president�s company and its
chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with tax-related crimes on
Thursday, according The Wall Street Journal. Obviously this marks a major
escalation of the probe, and Trump will presumably respond to the news by
lashing out like a man increasingly concerned that prison may be in his
future.

According to the Journal, Weisselberg and the company are expected to be
hit with charges related to allegedly avoiding paying taxes on fringe
benefits. For months Cyrus Vance Jr.�s office has been investigating
whether the perks the CFO (and other employees) was awarded, including
cars, corporate apartments, and private school tuition, were a way of
evading money owed to the IRS. In addition to reportedly obtaining
Weisselberg�s personal tax returns, the D.A.�s office scored a trove of
financial documents from his ex-daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg,
whose former husband, Barry Weisselberg, is also a longtime employee of
the company. (In his divorce deposition Barry was unable to answer a
number of questions about his taxes, and when asked if taxes had been paid
on the Trump Organization�owned apartment where his family previously
lived, he said he didn�t know. Pressed to explain discrepancies between
what he said he earned and what he actually reported on tax forms, he
responded: �I�m not an accountant. I know what I make. I�m not too sure of
certain things.�)

While Weisselberg has thus far refused to cooperate with the
investigation, being personally charged, and contemplating the prospect of
prison time, could obviously change his decision re: testifying against
Trump�and if it were to, it would undoubtedly be a very, very bad turn of
events for the 45th president. Weisselberg has described himself as the
�eyes and ears� of the company from a financial standpoint, and he could
presumably connect any number of dots about potential crimes committed by
Trump.

Meanwhile, per the Journal:

If prosecutors could show the Trump Organization and its executives
systematically avoided paying taxes, they could file more serious charges
alleging a scheme, lawyers said.

Mr. Weisselberg and his lawyers haven�t commented on the investigation
or impending charges. Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing and said the
investigations, conducted by offices led by Democrats, are politically
motivated. Earlier this week he said in a statement that the case is
composed of �things that are standard practice throughout the U.S.
business community, and in no way a crime.�

The tax-related investigation is part of a broader criminal probe into
whether the Trump Organization and its officers overvalued and undervalued
its assets on loan, tax, and insurance documents for financial gain, the
Journal has reported. The criminal probe, led by the Manhattan District
Attorney�s Office, and civil probe, by the New York attorney general, have
looked at financial dealing around some of the same properties, including
Mr. Trump�s Seven Springs estate, in Westchester, N.Y., and the Trump
International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, the Journal has reported. The
investigations by both offices remain open, and any charges filed Thursday
wouldn�t preclude future action. The attorney general�s civil
investigation could result in a lawsuit against the Trump Organization or
its officers. The criminal investigation could also lead to additional
indictments in the future.

As Weisselberg�s ex-daughter-in-law told Air Mail in April, �Trump doesn�t
care about Allen, but Allen knows every bad thing he ever did.�