2 years ago
NEW YORK — The Trump Organization and former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg couldn’t shake the Manhattan District Attorney's bombshell fraud case on Friday, as a New York judge nixed their bid to dismiss the case.
The decision caps off a stunning week for former President Donald Trump that included federal agents searching his Mar-a-Lago estate and a deposition with the New York Attorney General in which he pleaded the Fifth more than 400 times. Trump is not a defendant in the Manhattan DA's criminal case.
Weisselberg and the Trump Organization asked a judge to toss criminal fraud and tax evasion charges, arguing they were improperly targeted “based on political animus” and that prosecutors provided insufficient evidence.
On Friday, Justice Juan Merchan dismissed just one fraud count against the Trump Organization contained in a 15-count indictment alleging criminal tax fraud, grand larceny and falsification of business records. The decision allows the case to move toward trial, with jury selection slated for Oct. 24.
On top of that, a civil suit by several people who say Trump Tower security roughed them up during a 2015 protest is slated for trial next month.
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