NEW YORK — The Trump Organization swapped out the lawyer for its jailed septuagenarian finance chief Allen Weisselberg because it was scared he would protect his interests over Donald Trump’s, sources told the New York Daily News on Thursday.
Weisselberg, currently serving a five-month jail sentence on Rikers Island for tax fraud while head of the Trump Organization’s coffers, is no longer represented by Nicholas Gravante, a New York City defense lawyer Trump’s company was paying to defend him, two sources told the Daily News.
After sentencing, prosecutors at the Manhattan DA’s office, who have been presenting evidence to a grand jury about Trump since January, told Weisselberg’s lawyers that he risked being indicted again for lying to Zurich Insurance Group about appraisals that were never carried out by real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, a source close to Weisselberg’s criminal case told the Daily News, which was confirmed by a second source.
