Matthew Calamari, a former bodyguard for Donald Trump and now the Chief Operating Officer of the Trump Organization, is being investigated as part of the state grand jury probe into allegedly illegally financial operations of the company, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Calamari is suspected of taking unreported income in the form of free or reduced rent or the unfettered use of company cars or other resources. At this point, Calamari is not charged with any crimes, but could become a key witness in the ongoing grand jury probe into the Trump Organization’s fraud and operations.
Prosecutors have advised Calamari and his son, Matthew Calamari, Jr., who is the head of security for the Trump Organization, to hire their own attorneys for the remainder of the investigation. They previously retained the same team of lawyers who were representing other Trump Organization employees, which would prove to be a conflict of interest for the attorneys.
Reportedly, the Calamaris have retained Nicholas Gravante Jr., to be their lawyer. Gravante’s other clients include Hunter Biden and James Biden, the son and brother, respectively, of President Joe Biden.
The father lives in the Trump Park Avenue, an apartment building on Manhattan’s East Side, and he drives a Mercedes-Benz leased to the Trump Organization. The son lives in Trump Parc East, across the street from Central Park, the same building as the son of Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg, Barry. There are questions about whether Weisselberg and/or his son are paying market rates for their properties.
“It was a corporate apartment, so we didn’t have rent,” Barry, who has also worked for the Trump Organization, allegedly said in the deposition, which would seem to be an admission of illegally compensation.