David Shapiro, Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice: “The investigation of the Trump organization largely began with Ms. Letitia James’ office, the New York attorney general’s office, as a civil investigation. And most recently, she ceded the authority to the district attorney’s office to merge her investigation with theirs and theirs is a criminal investigation, which, of course, would carry way more significant consequences should any person or corporation be held liable. It’s easier to prove liability on the part of the corporation than to prove liability on the part of any given individual, especially in a corporation that normally has a great series of checks and balances. Sometimes, you know the act, the final acts are wrong: false tax returns. But you don’t always know who really pulled the trigger on submitting it to the New York state authorities and did that person know that he or she was submitting a fraudulent tax return. So, if you don’t know, you go after the corporation because overall, on the whole, somebody did something seriously wrong. Somebody has to make restitution. So, the corporation, for lack of any other available body of responsibility, has to carry the weight. The remedies for seeking to hold the corporation, and not individuals, responsible is really a focus on the future and a focus on making sure that the wrongdoing does not continue at the corporate level. it follows, like many other investigations, until there will be attempts made to persuade individuals or an individual on the inside to share testimonial evidence as to who knew what when and to provide context to things that can be ambiguous, whether emails, recorded telephone conversations. The cooperating witness will provide the necessary detail from which specific responsibility can be determined and proven.”
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