One sentence in the Trump Organization indictment suggests more charges are coming, former prosecutor says

• The Manhattan DA's Trump Organization investigation is ongoing after last week's indictments.
• Prosecutors say its CFO is "one of the largest individual beneficiaries of the defendants' scheme."
• This suggests people other than Allen Weisselberg are under scrutiny and may be charged later.

One sentence in the Manhattan district attorney's 15-count indictment against the Trump Organization suggested more people affiliated with the ex-president's family company could face charges, according to a former prosecutor.

Thursday's indictment alleged the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg participated in a years-long scheme to avoid paying taxes on $1.7 million worth of compensation. Both Weisselberg and attorneys for the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Randy Zelin, a former New York state prosecutor, told Insider the charging documents included a sentence that offered a clue about other people who may be under prosecutors' scrutiny.

"One of the largest individual beneficiaries of the defendants' scheme was Allen Weisselberg," the indictment said.

Zelin, now a defense attorney at Wilk Auslander LLP, said prosecutors' use of the word "individual" suggested other people - not just corporations - benefited from what the indictment alleged was the Trump Organization's tax-avoidance scheme.

"The government could have said he was the only one, right? The government didn't have to use the word 'individual,'" Zelin said. "The fact that the government inserted the word 'individual' means that there may be others who enjoy perks."

He added: "The fact that the government said 'one of the largest' - that by its very nature means other people were doing the same or doing similar."

The investigation into the Trump Organization is ongoing. A special grand jury is scheduled to sit until November, examining issues like whether the company kept two sets of books, whether it broke laws by facilitating a hush-money payment to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels, and whether anyone other than Weisselberg received untaxed benefits.

The indictment described an ongoing tax-avoidance scheme that prosecutors alleged began in 2005. Donald Trump personally led the company until 2017, and then turned over leadership to Weisselberg and his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr., who have disparaged the investigation as politically motivated.

Zelin said the Trump Organization closed ranks around Weisselberg after he was charged, which suggests prosecutors don't consider the executive a rogue actor.

"If he had done this on his own, he would have then have been cheating the Trump Organization," Zelin said. "Not only wasn't he terminated, not only was he not suspended pending further investigation, not only was he not suspended once he was indicted - but apparently he's gone back to work since his indictment."

Manhattan prosecutors have sought Weisselberg's cooperation in their investigation, and Zelin said the charges against him could help flip more people from Trump's orbit.

Matthew Calamari, the Trump Organization's chief operating officer who lived in company-owned apartments, is under scrutiny as well. And Ivanka Trump - who appeared to take a tax-deducted consulting fee from the company despite being one of its executives, according to a New York Times investigation of tax filings - may also be at legal risk.

"There's certainly a lot of clues that would suggest that this indictment is just the beginning, rather than the end," Zelin said.