Dive Brief:

• As part of the investigation of former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization’s finances, New York state prosecutors have subpoenaed Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s bank records, The New York Times reported Wednesday. 

• The Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Cyrus Vance, Jr., are investigating gifts Trump gave Weisselberg and his family, sources told the Times. 

• The probe might be part of investigators’ efforts to gain Weisselberg’s cooperation. Weisselberg, 73, has worked for the Trump family for decades. Scrutinizing the gifts “appears to be part of an effort to paint a picture of Weisselberg’s financial life, as is common when prosecutors seek cooperation from a potential witness,” the Times said. “It is unclear whether prosecutors suspect any wrongdoing related to the gifts.”

Dive Insight:

As long-time CFO, Weisselberg has stood by Trump’s side and maintained insider knowledge of his financial dealings. 

"He knows where the bodies are buried,” and is, therefore, “a crucial witness,” former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer told Insider.

The probe began with Vance looking into the Trump Organization's role in making hush money payments to two women who alleged they had had extramarital affairs with Trump.

Former personal lawyer Michael Cohen arranged the payments, and later pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges. Cohen testified before Congress that Weisselberg devised a strategy to hide that the Trump Organization was reimbursing Cohen for making a $130,000 payment to one of the women, adult actress Stormy Daniels. 

The prosecution did not accuse Weisselberg of wrongdoing when charging Cohen. Released from prison, Cohen is cooperating with Vance and the Manhattan DA, sources told the Times last month.

The probe has since grown, and investigators are now looking into whether the Trump Organization falsely reported property values to secure loans and tax breaks, the Times said. 

Vance’s office has subpoenaed records from several banks that have partnered with Trump and the Trump Organization, including Capital One and JPMorgan Chase, sources said. The banks are reported to have turned their records over to the prosecutors; they received Trump's personal tax information in February.

Prosecutors are also reportedly seeking general ledgers from several of the Trump organization’s more than two dozen properties that the company didn’t turn over last year. The ledgers offer a breakdown of each property’s financial situation, including daily receipts, checks and revenues, according to the Times report.

“The prosecutors could compare those details against the information the company provided to its lenders and local tax authorities to assess whether it fraudulently misled them,” the report said.

In recent weeks, the prosecution has questioned Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, who was married to Weisselberg’s son, Barry, manager of Central Park’s Trump Wollman Rink.

In an interview, Ms. Weisselberg said prosecutors asked her about several gifts Trump and his company gave the family over the years, the Times said, including an apartment on Central Park South, cars for several family members and private school tuition.

Ms. Weisselberg gave prosecutors seven boxes of documents given to her as part of her divorce settlement, she told Insider. 

"They picked up documents many times. They ended up taking seven boxes of my documents and scanning them, going through them,” she said, adding that prosecutors also took depositions, checks, routing numbers and bank account information.