IVANKA TRUMP LIKELY TO FACE RAPS OVER ‘CONSULTING FEES,’ EX-PROSECUTOR SAYS

Experts say the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is likely looking into “consulting fees” paid to Ivanka Trump despite her having been a full-time employee of the Trump Organization and it is highly possible that she could be next in line to be indicted.

In a report for Vanity Fair, Bess Levin said charging the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, with conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying records, may just be a prelude to other charges that may hit not only Ivanka but also Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

“Clearly this is extremely bad news for not just the company, which former executives believe is going to be ‘destroy[ed],’ and Weisselberg, who faces more than a decade in prison if convicted on all charges, but the entire Trump clan, too,” Levin added.

While Donald Trump is obviously the first name that comes to mind when envisioning a scenario in which a Trump family member is sentenced to time in prison, according to numerous experts, his adult children should be extremely concerned as well, starting with his favorite offspring: Ivanka Trump.

Appearing on MSNBC on Monday, former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne told host Alicia Menendez that last week’s charges were merely “an opening salvo,” and that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has sent a message that (1) Weisselberg should really, really consider flipping and cooperating against the Trumps, and (2) Cyrus Vance Jr. is just getting started.

“Prosecutors went to an amazing amount of effort to show Weisselberg ‘we have everything we need,’ and they’re really not only pressuring him to flip, but the amount of detail in this indictment tells me that they’re trying to tell other people you have got to flip, because ‘we have everything; we have the double books. We know what you told your tax accountants was a lie. We know that we’re gonna be able to prove these cases,’” Alksne told Menendez.

“So I think...first it’s Weisselberg and [then] there are a lot of other people mentioned, ‘individual number one’ or ‘person X signed’ or ‘person Y signed.’ Those people who are mentioned in the indictment, I would expect they’re next and then it builds.”

Asked how she would proceed if she were prosecuting the case and “had access to the years of hidden records kept by the Trump Organization,” Alksne said, “I would focus [the investigation] on the kids.

Apparently, they’ve had some testimony by the comptroller; in the state of New York, that means they’ve essentially given him immunity. So I would focus on the kids. My guess is [COO Matthew] Calamari is kind of easy picking and that there are similar ways to give money for the kids. We’ve heard a lot of this reporting about Ivanka Trump getting consulting fees, ‘consulting fees’ for things that she may or may not have done. That looks to me like the next place, but we’ll just have to see.”

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