State prosecutors in New York investigating former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have subpoenaed the personal bank records of the company’s chief financial officer and are questioning gifts he and his family received from Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
In recent weeks, the prosecutors have trained their focus on the executive, Allen Weisselberg, in what appears to be a determined effort to gain his cooperation. Weisselberg, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, has overseen the Trump Organization’s finances for decades and may hold the key to any possible criminal case.
Prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., are examining, among other things, whether Trump and the company falsely manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits.
It is unclear whether Weisselberg would cooperate with the investigation and neither his lawyer, Mary Mulligan, nor Vance’s office would comment. But if a review of his personal finances were to uncover possible wrongdoing, prosecutors could then use that information to press Weisselberg to guide them through the inner workings of the company.
Separately, the prosecutors are also seeking a new round of internal documents from the Trump Organization, including general ledgers from several of its more than two dozen properties that the company did not turn over last year, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.
The previously unreported developments underscore the escalation of the investigation after Vance’s office obtained Trump’s tax records and other underlying financial documents in February. They were released over Trump’s objections after a lengthy legal battle that culminated in a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Trump Organization declined to comment. In the past, Trump, a Republican, has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation a politically motivated “fishing expedition.”
Prosecutors have also questioned Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, she has said. Jennifer Weisselberg has been enmeshed in a bitter divorce with Allen Weisselberg’s son, Barry. Jennifer Weisselberg said prosecutors have asked her about a number of gifts that Trump and his company gave the Weisselberg family over the years.
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