As Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance continues his wide-ranging criminal investigation of the Trump Organization, the company is lawyering up. As outlined in a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the ex-president’s family business has hired criminal defense attorney Ronald Fischetti to represent the company in Vance’s probe. The hiring suggests that Trump’s team might suspect that criminal charges are on the way, although it’s not yet clear who might be named by any indictments that emerge from Vance’s investigation.
Fischetti said that he’s “delighted that I’m going to be on the defense of this.” Alan Futerfas, another lawyer for the Trump Organization, said that Fischetti “brings extraordinary experience, a depth of knowledge and wisdom that is invaluable and that we so appreciate.” Trump did not appear to have any personal comment about the hiring, although he has harshly criticized Vance’s investigation in the past. The ex-president has claimed that he’s a victim of “political persecution,” which is just laughable.
Notably, Fischetti was a law partner of Vance team member Mark Pomerantz for most of the 1980s. Pomerantz, who formally joined Vance’s team earlier this year, has already been involved in interviews of both former longtime Trump fixer Michael Cohen and Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of Allen Weisselberg, who serves as the Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer and has worked with the Trumps for decades. Both Cohen and (Jennifer) Weisselberg are cooperating with the investigation, and just this week, a report emerged revealing that Jennifer’s lawyer Duncan Lewis says that she still has “several boxes” of material to give investigators.
Cohen, who has been interviewed by Vance’s team over half a dozen times, has said that he believes that prosecutors have “more than” enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Trump if they choose that route. They are investigating potential tax, bank, and insurance fraud at the Trump Organization, stemming in part from allegations that Trump fraudulently adjusted valuations of his company’s assets in efforts to secure financial benefits like favorable loan terms and tax breaks. Vance’s team has issued a slew of subpoenas as part of the investigation, and they even sought information about a Trump property in Chicago.
