Is Manhattan DA Cy Vance Getting Ready To Grab Trumpland Exec Matthew Calamari By The Pornstache?
Don't sleep on Cyrus Vance Jr.! Yesterday he ushered two more Trump Org employees into the grand jury to testify about the interesting compensation arrangements at the former president's eponymous business. This ain't over!
Remember how Manhattan District Attorney Vance indicted the company and its longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg in July for dodging tax liability by disguising compensation as untaxed job perks? Looks like the DA is still pulling on that thread. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that senior Trump Org finance exec Jeffrey McConney, who testified before the Weisselberg indictment dropped, was headed in for a second round of chitchat with the jurors.
That guy just can't stay away! Because who wouldn't want to pay their lawyers thousands of dollars an hour for the pleasure of being questioned by someone looking to paint you as complicit in a multi-decade scheme to defraud Uncle Sam, right?
And making his grand jury debut is newcomer Matthew Calamari Jr., the Trump Organization's 28-year-old corporate director of security, who testified yesterday. Please do not confuse him with his father, Matthew Calamari Sr., a Trump executive who impressed the former president by body-slamming hecklers at the 1981 US Open and has been with the family ever since. Calamari Sr. has long been rumored to be willing to get his hands dirty for the boss, and it appears that the boss may have actually been willing to return the favor. The Journalreported back in June that both father and son lived in Trump properties (oh, hey, just like Allen Weisselberg and his dipshit kid who ran Wolman ice rink for the Trump Org), and that Calamari Sr. owns a home outside the city where taxes are lower (again, like Allen Weisselberg) and drove Mercedes leased by the company (one more time for the cheap seats).
Allen Weisselberg is currently under indictment for failing to declare the apartment and cars as income and claiming to live in lower-tax Long Island when he actually resided in Manhattan. Also for a bunch of stupid shit like pocketing cash as "reimbursement" for office supplies and then taking it off the topline of his compensation so he didn't have to pay taxes on it. What are the odds that two Trumpland employees ran the same stupid scheme to weasel out of giving New York and the IRS their fair share? ALLEGEDLY.
But Vance isn't hauling in Calamari Sr. just yet. After telling the squid family in late spring that they'd be wise to hire their own attorneys and not rely on Trump's guys, prosecutors have now brought in Calamari Jr. to testify.
CNN reports that the son received transactional immunity, meaning that he can't be prosecuted as long as he testifies truthfully, and he can't plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid incriminating himself.
The family's lawyer tried to put the best spin possible on this, insisting that he'd negotiated immunity because his client had never no-how done any crimes.
"He appeared today, was immunized and testified truthfully, all of which are required by law," attorney Nick Gravante said after emerging from the court house. "He is a model citizen, has never violated any law, and is glad to have this distraction behind him."
Which is cool and all — Your Wonkette has no idea if the squidlet picked up the rental value of his apartment as income, although we're guessing the IRS isn't bound by this state immunity deal — but presumably the Manhattan district attorney has bigger fish to fry, including Matthew Calamari Sr., who is reported to have the inside scoop on some of Donald Trump's hinkier real estate deals.
Fall is coming. And maybe some indictments?
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Liz Dye lives in Baltimore with her wonderful husband and a houseful of teenagers. When she isn't being mad about a thing on the internet, she's hiding in plain sight in the carpool line. She's the one wearing yoga pants glaring at her phone.
