Trump Organization Could Face Criminal Charges in D.A. Inquiry

Prosecutors recently have focused much of their investigation into the perks Mr. Trump and the company doled out to Mr. Weisselberg and other executives, including tens of thousands of dollars in private school tuition for one of Mr. Weisselberg’s grandchildren, as well as rents on apartments and car leases.They are looking into whether those benefits were properly recorded in the company’s ledgers and whether taxes were paid on them, The New York Times has reported.Mr. Trump’s lawyers met on Thursday with senior prosecutors in the district attorney’s office in hopes of persuading them to abandon any plan to charge the company, according to several people familiar with the meeting. The inquiry is also examining the organization’s statements to insurance companies about the value of various assets and any role that its employees — including Mr. Weisselberg — may have played in hush-money payments to two women during the 2016 presidential campaign.Mr. Trump has derided the investigation by Mr. Vance, a Democrat, as a politically motivated “witch hunt.” He unsuccessfully tried to fight a subpoena from Mr. Vance’s office seeking eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns, a fight that twice reached the United States Supreme Court.A spokesman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on Friday. Charges also can threaten an organization’s relationships with banks and business partners and cause lasting reputational damage.The indictments could increase pressure to cooperate on Mr. Weisselberg, who could seek to cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against Mr. Trump in exchange for leniency.Mr. Weisselberg’s intimate knowledge of the Trump Organization — he has worked at the company for decades and was one of the top executives when Mr. Trump was in the White House — would make his cooperation an enormous asset to investigators looking at all aspects of the company.