After Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in connection with Trump hush-money payoffs, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance began an investigation into possible criminal charges related to those payoffs
Then that investigation was broadened when Vance sought Trump’s tax returns.
And NY Attorney General Letitia James started investigating the Trump Organization in connection with its asset valuation practices with respect to bank loans and income tax purposes. Originally, this investigation was characterized as a “purely civil matter.”
Not very long ago, AG James announced that her office’s investigation had “evolved” to include potential criminal matters. This part of the investigation was turned over the the Manhattan DA.
Three days ago, DA Vance convened a special grand jury that may consider whether to indict Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself.
In the latest noose-tightening news, there is speculation that
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance could be considering a criminal charge that former President Donald Trump’s business empire was a corrupt enterprise under a New York law resembling the federal racketeering statute known as RICO.
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The state law — sometimes called “little RICO” — can be invoked with proof of as few as three crimes involving a business or other enterprise and can carry a prison term of up to 25 years, along with a mandatory minimum of one to three years.
Although not all armchair commentators think that bringing “little RICO” charges against Trump and the Trump Organization is a good idea, it wouldn’t be the first time:
If prosecutors pursuing the Trump Organization go down the “little RICO” road, it would not be the first time a Trump business has faced legal claims that its practices amounted to racketeering. As Trump won the presidency in 2016, he was battling a civil class-action lawsuit claiming that the activities of his Trump University real-estate program ran afoul of federal RICO.
Trump’s lawyers vehemently rejected the assertion, arguing that the plaintiffs were trying to turn “garden-variety” fraud claims into a federal racketeering case. Trump’s team also pointed to a court ruling calling RICO “the litigation equivalent of a thermonuclear device.”
However, a federal judge ruled that the suit could proceed to trial. After Trump won the 2016 election, he settled that case and related Trump University suits for $25 million, while still denying wrongdoing.