[ad_1]
In recent weeks, however, their investigation has subsided, said people familiar with the investigation, and prosecutors do not seem willing to indict Trump organization leaders in the US. investigation opened following the trial against Cohen.
A spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan declined to comment. An attorney from the Trump organization declined to comment.
In January, a month after Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, prosecutors called for talks with company leaders, CNN reported. But prosecutors have never acted on their initial request, said people familiar with the case, and the interviews never took place.
In the meantime, there has been no contact between the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan and officials of the Trump Organization for more than five months, said one familiar with the case.
There is no indication that the case has been officially closed, and former federal prosecutors warned that it was still possible that new information could restart the investigation. The US Attorney's Office in Manhattan continues to conduct at least one other ongoing investigation related to Trump, an investigation into the president's inaugural committee.
The Trump Organization investigation was launched in the Cohen case, in which he pleaded guilty to eight counts, including two counts of campaign financing offenses for orchestrating or making payments to two women – the Adult actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal – who claimed to have relations with Trump. (Trump denied the allegations.)
Once Cohen paid Daniels $ 130,000, he was reimbursed, according to prosecutors in court documents, by the Trump Organization. The company's executives granted him $ 420,000 in payments to cover his initial payment and tax obligations and reward him with a bonus, prosecutors said. They falsely recorded these payments as legal fees in their books.
The criminal investigation was to determine whether these payments, like the money that Cohen had paid to Daniels, violated the campaign finance law.
It appears that prosecutors have continued to explore the fact-lines related to Cohen, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence.
As recently as May, prosecutors have asked a federal judge to allow them to keep certain redacted information in the documents relating to Cohen's search warrants, because, as the judge said in the a court record, "elements in the course of the government's investigation".
The judge granted this request and ordered the prosecutors to file an update "identifying the persons or entities under investigation in progress and explaining any need to proceed with the continuous drafting", the deadline being fixed at Monday.
One of the reasons prosecutors could ask the court to keep the information under seal is that the search warrant portion of the election campaign may involve an individual or entity in relation to another ongoing investigation, said Harry Sandick, former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. US Attorney's Office and CNN contributor.
"They have an ongoing investigation into the inauguration," he said. "Perhaps there is an unknown link between these two investigations."
He added that there was no benefit in formally closing a case as long as the statute of limitations is still open.
"Early closing of a deal is not a good thing because things will happen in the future," Sandick said. "There could be new reports, a collaborator in another district, or a case that would be presented – so why declare the case" and order all your evidence when something else could happen at the same time? to come up? "
[ad_2]
Source link