REVEALED: NY RICO charges against Trump were impeded by Andrew Cuomo
Now that Donald Trump is facing accountability all up and down the Eastern seaboard, questions are being asked regarding how the real estate magnate and former president did business as long as he did in New York without being charged for something.
It was well-understood that Trump effectively ran his business like a mob boss.
According to a new blockbuster report in The Daily Beast, it was strongly considered by the Attorney General’s office but was largely blocked by former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The Daily Beast obtained emails that demonstrate that the possibility of indicting Trump using RICO laws — a racketeering charge typically aimed at mobsters — was seriously discussed as far back as 2020 while Trump was still president.
The report couldn’t find anyone in the A.G.’s office or the Manhattan D.A.s office who would speak on the record but an anonymous source said:
“It was certainly discussed. This was not something that was deliberately ignored.”
The report makes it sound as though there is some embarrassment in the Attorney General’s office, given all that’s been discovered in the civil suit that this looks far more like a case that should have been brought as a criminal — rather than civil — indictment under RICO statutes in the state of New York.
It is critical to understand that the Daily Beast report isn’t discussing any part of Trump’s departure from the presidency. It is limited to how Trump ran his businesses in New York State. Many people have long said that Trump operated both his businesses and his presidency as a mob boss would.
This is the president who complained someone was “ratting” on him.
It appears that it came down to discomfort within the Manhattan D.A.’s office and to an inability to get “permission” from the governor for the A.G. to proceed.
From The Daily Beast’s report:
“The AG’s office ultimately rejected the notion of going solo with an indictment alleging what New York laws call ‘enterprise corruption.’ Instead, as previously reported, it loaned two of its lawyers to the Manhattan DA’s office, which already had an ongoing criminal investigation. The move made sense, according to legal experts who have closely watched this unfold. The DA has clear jurisdiction over local crimes, while the AG would need special permission from the governor.”
The report states that the A.G. couldn’t charge Trump with a crime without access to his taxes but the governor’s office (Andrew Cuomo) pushed back all attempts to get those documents. The New York Times got many of Trump’s tax records by working alongside his niece Mary Trump.
The report establishes that by mid-2020, the A.G.’s office was ready to go forward with RICO criminal charges but the civil team had far more material and was on the way to suing Trump.
The state’s focus centered on Trump’s Seven Springs Estate as a civil matter when John Oleske, a senior enforcement counsel at the agency asked. “Why not treat Trump like a mob boss, and charge him accordingly?”
An email went out on November 20, 2020, when Trump was in the midst of desperately trying to save his presidency. An internal memo demonstrates that the A.G.’s office was well aware of the implications as the country heated up. Regardless, Oleske wrote:
“There is already more than enough evidence for a [New York State] prosecutor to pursue grand jury investigations and potential indictments against Trump, his 3 oldest children, and other key associates (e.g., Guiliani) for enterprise corruption.”
Two matters bolstered the argument for going forward:
A) The state’s success in shutting down Trump University, and
B) The New York Times report on Trump’s taxes.
The A.G.’s office had the evidence. The Manhattan D.A.’s office had the willingness. But the governor wouldn’t allow A.G. Letitia James to go forward.
The compromise — one that enraged some — was charging Allen Weiselberg and sending him to Rikers while also charging the corporation itself which resulted in a relatively small $1.6 million fine.
At that point, the A.G. and D.A. had everything needed for a mob-style prosecution when Oleske wrote that the A.G. was stymied by the governor’s office while the D.A. lacked the willingness.
The result was the civil case which was called “a slam dunk” and has played out as such.
According to John Moscow, a former Manhattan prosecutor who wanted to charge Trump in New York with this type of all-encompassing criminal charge for years, the criminal case would also be a slam dunk.
Prosecutor Mark Pomerantz — who led the Manhattan D.A.’s office until he quit out of frustration that they wouldn’t prosecute Trump — let his frustration loose by listing the many crimes they could have easily prosecuted.
“Everywhere we were drilling we seemed to be striking oil in terms of potential criminality. Fraud on financial institutions, fraud on government contract authorities, tax fraud, insurance fraud, consumer fraud, a phony charity—there were so many areas to look at because neither Trump nor the Trump Organization seemed to care about stepping over legal lines. Bringing an enterprise corruption charge would allow the prosecutors to weave together a host of different criminal acts under one big tent,” Pomerantz stated:
It is not hard to believe that the Trump Organization didn’t care about stepping over legal lines. And that is why Pomerantz resigned. He seemed to be inundated with criminality and yet wasn’t allowed to go forward.
To be fair, The Daily Beast’s article does have a counter-opinion stating that even though Trump is always cutting corners with “penny ante” stuff, it would be tough to build a massive RICO case in New York.
But the story ends by noting that, now that Cuomo is no longer governor, it is still possible for the Manhattan D.A., and Letitia James to bring that a RICO case in New York.
As an aside, I cannot figure out why Trump hasn’t been charged by the federal Southern District of New York for the tax charges alone.
A.G. James did refer her findings to the IRS and it’s possible that the prosecutors within the IRS will make a criminal referral to the SDNY.
Stay tuned. New York isn’t done with Trump and Andrew Cuomo is no longer around to protect Trump from RICO charges.
This column is based on original reporting by Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on X @JasonMiciak.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
