Trump Organization could face New York state criminal charges next week

Donald Trump’s lawyers have been notified by the Manhattan district attorney’s office that it is considering charges against the Trump Organization.

The charges, which could be announced by district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. as early as next week, involve fringe benefits the organization allegedly awarded to top executive Allen H. Weisselberg – the organization's longtime chief financial officer, an attorney for the Trump Organization and Donald Trump confirmed to Fox News.

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The district attorney’s office -- which has been investigating the Trump Organization for the last three years -- has reportedly been building a case against the CFO in an attempt to pressure him to cooperate with the investigation.

But it had not yet been disclosed that the company could also face charges.  

Sources familiar with the inquiry into the former president’s family business confirmed that no Trump family members are being charged with anything at this time.

Prosecutors are reportedly looking into perks that were awarded to the top executive, including tens of thousands of dollars for private schooling for one of Weisselberg’s grandchildren, along with car leases and apartment rent doled out by the organization.

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The district attorney’s office is looking to see if these benefits were reported to the IRS and if taxes were properly paid on them, The New York Times first reported. 

In a Thursday meeting, Trump’s lawyers met with state prosecutors in an attempt to persuade them to drop the potential charges on the organization. 

Trump Organization attorney Ron Fischetti said it would be highly unusual to prosecute a company over fringe benefits.

"In my more than 50 years of practice, never before have I seen the District Attorney’s Office target a company over employee compensation or fringe benefits," Fischetti told Fox News. "The IRS would not, and has not, brought a case like this. Even the financial institutions responsible for causing the 2008 financial crises, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, were not prosecuted." 

Fischetti said based on the meeting he had with the New York prosecutors he is expecting charges to be filed. 

"This, in my opinion, is just to get back at Donald Trump," Fischetti said. He said prosecutors may charge one or two employees, who will plead "not guilty" and move to dismiss the charges immediately.   

The three-year-long investigation has been wide in scope and has included inquiries into the potential involvement of the organization’s employees in "hush money" payments made to women during Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.

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Prosecutors have also looked into insurance claims made about the value of various assets and if the organization manipulated the value of its property to improve loans and tax benefits.

Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a "witch hunt" and claimed it is politically motivated.