The Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, are pressing New York prosecutors to drop charges brought against them last summer, including tax fraud, conspiracy, grand larceny and filing false business records.
According to The Hill, New York prosecutors alleged that Weisselberg and "other Trump Organization executives" orchestrated a plan to enrich themselves through unreported income, alleging, from 2005 to 2017, Weisselberg owed $1.7 million in taxes he has not paid.
Both parties have denied wrongdoing.
According to court filings Tuesday, the parties alleged that the allegations brought against them were politically motivated.
The Manhattan district attorney's office, Trump's lawyers argued in their filing, "targeted Donald Trump's associates and companies for investigation and prosecution based on their animus toward his speech and political views," The New York Times reported.
Susan Necheles, an attorney for associates of Trump, went on to allege that the Manhattan district attorney's office and New York Attorney General Letitia James were pursuing these cases in order to block former President Donald Trump from reaching political office.
"There never before has been a case like this, where individuals were prosecuted in state court for supposed failures to pay federal taxes. As [set] forth in our motion papers, the [Department of Justice] knew all of the facts here and did not think a case was warranted," Necheles said.
"The only reason the NY DA and NY AG brought this case was for political motives. Their unconstitutional behavior should not be tolerated and the criminal case must be dismissed."
Also, lawyers for Weisselberg alleged in court filings that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen had a vendetta against Weisselberg after he testified against Cohen in 2018. The lawyers argued only the IRS had the authority to pursue charges related to federal tax returns, not the New York prosecutors.
Following the arguments from Weisselberg's lawyers, Cohen sent out a tweet condemning the allegations.
"This ... argument is nothing more than more feeble attempts by #Trump, Weisselberg and company to continue to lie in hopes of blaming me for the investigation into all the illegal actions they committed," Cohen tweeted. "No one is above the law and soon this adage will ring true!"
So far, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has not responded to the Times' request for comment.
via newsmax