The indictment filed last week against the Trump Organization and its long-time chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg isn’t heavy on names, but there’s one major exception: a list of seven Trump Organization companies—including one where Ivanka Trump held an executive role for eight years.
While it’s impossible to know what charges are still to come, legal experts say the indictment for Weisselberg last week suggests bigger targets are in line, potentially including the former president’s adult children.
“Since this indictment is in a New York state court, prosecutors are allowed to name these companies, whereas in federal court they could not,” Melissa Jampol, a former assistant U.S. attorney who now practices business law at Epstein Becker Green, told The Daily Beast. “Based on my experience, everything’s in there for a reason.” …
Ivanka’s financial disclosures show that from 2009 to 2017, she was vice president of one of the companies named in the indictment—Trump Las Vegas Development LLC. According to federal disclosures, that company was established to collect development fees on Trump Ruffin Tower, a combination hotel-condo building in Las Vegas.
But those disclosures also show the company’s underlying value isn’t clear, and its income has swung wildly. The business posted no income at all in 2014 and 2015, then hauled $8.1 million in 2016 before reporting no income again in 2017, the year Ivanka left the company. It pulled in a little over $3 million annually for the next two years, then went dormant.
“There has to be a real business purpose to the company,” [Gretchen Harders] said. “So what are these entities doing? Are they actually engaging in business, or are they just there to pay compensation some years? You really have to be performing consulting services to qualify as a consultant.”