Prosecutors have been increasing the frequency of their interviews with Cohen since it began in the fall of 2019, shortly after District Attorney Trump’s accountant sued for his taxes.
Cohen, who worked for Trump for about a decade and once said he would take a bullet for Trump, knows the inner workings of the company. Prosecutors are interested in talking to Cohen because he can help explain the culture of the company and the relationships between Trump, his family and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump organization.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the Trump organization improperly inflated the value of its assets in dealing with borrowers and insurance companies and deflated it when filing taxes.
They are also investigating tax deductions on fees paid to consultants, including Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter, and preservation relaxations given at Seven Springs, a family estate in Westchester County, NY.
Cohen told Congress that Trump inflated and deflated the value of certain assets to obtain loans and lower his tax bill. He was also involved in the payment scheme and pleaded guilty to nine charges, including campaign finance offenses, in connection with the scheme.
Investigators met with Cohen three times in late 2019 while serving time in a federal prison in Otisville, NY.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Friday’s meeting is apparently the first meeting that will be in person at the DA office. Cohen is serving the remainder of his sentence at his home in Manhattan.
The district attorney’s investigation has gained momentum this year. In February, Cy Vance, District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor, recruited to oversee the investigation. Pomerantz has worked for decades as a defense attorney on financial investigations and has an insight into how these cases are filed and how businesses and individuals defend against them. They also brought in an external forensic accounting firm.
Vance’s office gained access to eight years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns and related records last month after a 16-month court battle. Researchers have sown the records over the millions of pages. Vance does not want to be re-elected, and people familiar with the matter are likely to decide whether to sue before leaving office in December. According to people familiar with the matter, it could take months.