The Trump Organization's Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg surrendered Thursday morning to the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
"They’re hoping that he’s going to flip on others in the Trump organization," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told KCBS Radio's Holly Quan and Dan Mitchinson. "Obviously he’s a high ranking official there."
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But the difficulty of making a tax case, in Mariotti’s experience, is to prove the state of mind of the defendant. It’s hard to prove that they knew what they were doing, that they were trying to cheat the tax authorities, he said.
But having Weisselberg is a big get. "Someone who’s willing to testify and provide prosecutors with a witness who will talk about that state of mind is very valuable." he said.
It’s unclear what kind of charges former President Donald Trump could face in the case, said Mariotti. "Tax charges have a range in severity," he said. But no matter what the charges wind up being, "any felony is a significant thing if you’re an elderly business executive."
It’s definitely going to be significant for Weisselberg and his family, Mariotti added.
Mariotti believes that Trump and his supporters are likely to just blow it off. But it’s unlikely they’ll be pleased about it, in his experience, "it’s never a happy day when your company or its executives are indicted."
These types of cases make tasks as simple as getting a line of credit or a loan difficult, he said, because banks require an explanation for indictments. "You have to have a complete and accurate disclosure," he said. Hiding that information could be considered bank fraud, he said.
It’s just as tricky to negotiate mergers and partnerships with an indictment looming overhead, according to Mariotti. "You have to tell the other side of that transaction about this issue you have."
"It makes business partners very squeamish," he said.
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