Donald Trump has received a piece of positive legal news, as New York’s Westchester County district attorney’s office has decided to end its criminal investigation into the Trump Organization, concluding without filing any charges.
The news came from a Business Insider source who was aware of the situation.
The investigation was closed in early June by District Attorney Mimi Rocah.
Elliott Jacobson, a special prosecutor brought on board by Rocah, had left the office by the end of 2022.
His analysis of the evidence obtained in the course of the investigation led him to conclude that it could not substantiate criminal charges, either because the alleged conduct fell outside the statute of limitations or it overlapped with other ongoing investigations, according to Business Insider.
The jurisdiction over much of the evidence gathered lies with the New York attorney general’s office.
While the district attorney’s office can only handle criminal cases, the attorney general’s office has the authority to initiate civil lawsuits.
The attorney general, Letitia James, has a significant civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization due for trial in October.
The Westchester district attorney’s office, located north of New York City, had launched its investigation into the Trump Organization two years ago.
The inquiry primarily focused on whether the family business of the former president had unlawfully provided misleading information about the value of the Trump National Golf Club Westchester to lower property tax obligations.
Over the years leading up to the criminal probe, the village of Ossining had been engaged in a legal battle with the golf club over the actual value of the property and the corresponding tax due.
Subpoenaed financial records from the golf course indicated that the scope of the investigation had expanded into Donald Trump’s personal involvement in the valuation of the golf club.
Simultaneously, other investigations into the Trump Organization were underway, creating some friction with Rocah’s office.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office had already been probing the organization’s financial dealings and had twice approached the Supreme Court to secure tax records.
In 2021, criminal charges were filed by Manhattan prosecutors against the company and then-CFO Allen Weisselberg for alleged falsification of payroll tax records.
They were victorious at the trial last fall.
In April, additional charges were brought against Trump himself, related to allegations of disguised hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.
Trump maintains his innocence and the case is set to go to trial next March.
The New York attorney general’s civil lawsuit also targets the Westchester property.
The lawsuit accuses Trump, the Trump Organization, and his three eldest children of breaking tax, bank, and insurance laws by manipulating property values illegally.
The complaint points out the deceptive strategies employed at Trump’s Westchester golf course.
“At Mr. Trump’s golf course in Westchester, the valuation for 2011 assumed new members would pay an initiation fee of nearly $200,000 for each of the 67 unsold memberships, even though many new members in that year paid no initiation fee at all,” the lawsuit alleges.
The Westchester district attorney’s office faced challenges in acquiring records due to the simultaneous investigations by the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general offices.
This also raised concerns over potentially duplicative legal claims.
In the end, the Westchester County prosecutors closed the investigation after deeming that new criminal charges were not justified.
