New York prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump's business have advised Trump's former bodyguard and current chief operating officer, Matthew Calamari, and his son that they should get their own lawyers, not use the Trump Organization's attorneys, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors are reportedly looking into whether the Calamaris have illegally avoided paying taxes on benefits provided by the Trump Organization, including housing and cars.
New York City District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. has been investigating the Trump Organization for a few years, focused most recently on whether the company manipulates the value of its properties to get loans and lower its taxes. Vance's prosecutors are similarly investigating, and widely believed to be trying to gain the cooperation of, Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, but they don't appear to have had much luck yet. Now it appears their interest in these benefits extends beyond Weisselberg, the Journal reports, noting that neither Calamari or Weisselberg have been accused of wrongdoing.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The senior Calamari has worked for the Trump Organization for decades, starting as Trump's bodyguard in 1981. He is believed to know the details of the company's alleged property value inflation and under-reporting. His son, Matthew Calamari Jr., joined the Trump Organization's security team in 2011, the same year he graduated from high school, and was named corporate director of security in 2017.
The Calamaris live in different luxury Trump apartment buildings on Central Park, the Journal reports. Barry Weisselberg, Allen Weiselberg's son and another Trump Organization employee, lived in the same building as Matthew Calamari Jr., he said in a 2018 deposition for his divorce, testifying that "it was a corporate apartment, so we didn't have rent."
"Receiving benefits — such as free apartments, subsidized rent or car leases — from an employer, and not paying taxes on such benefits, can be a crime," the Journal reports, "although experts said prosecutors rarely bring cases on such perks alone."
-
The UK’s ‘wallaby boom’Under the Radar The Australian marsupial has ‘colonised’ the Isle of Man and is now making regular appearances on the UK mainland
-
Fast food is no longer affordable to low-income AmericansThe explainer Cheap meals are getting farther out of reach
-
‘The money to fix this problem already exists’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Ted Cruz teases big 2028 movesIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Texas Republican is playing his cards close to his chest, even as others in Washington start looking for hints about the arch-conservative’s future
-
‘It’s ironic in so many ways’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
‘Trump’s bad qualities make him good at handling the Middle East’instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
