Politics
Here are some of the most high-profile cases on Alvin Bragg’s agenda
A probe into the business dealings of former President Donald Trump has national attention.
Newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has inherited a staff of more than 500 attorneys who handle tens of thousands of cases annually between the office’s trial, investigations and appeals divisions. Among the high-profile cases he will take over from his predecessor Cy Vance are a sex abuse case against an Oscar-winning actor and a fraud probe of a former president. His office is also handling at least two murder cases that are part of a wave of major crimes that have rocked the city this year.
Donald Trump
By far the most watched case on Bragg’s plate is the office’s potentially history-making investigation of Trump’s business practices. If Bragg decides to indict Trump, he will be the first former president ever charged with a crime. Prosecutors are probing whether Trump defrauded lenders by inflating the value of his assets. As part of the inquiry, Vance battled Trump for years to obtain his tax records and finally secured them in February last year following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The investigation led to charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who was indicted on 15 tax-related counts in July last year. Bragg has said he will keep the prosecutors who are currently leading the Trump probe in place and give the investigation his own personal attention. “We're gonna follow the facts as I’ve done for the last 20-plus years in complex white collar cases and in all cases,” Bragg told City & State. “So we have the team leadership, which provides continuity, and we've got some people coming in … to the office with fresh eyes, and I think that's a good partnership.”
Martial Simon
In another horrific, high-profile killing last month, Simon is accused of pushing subway rider Michelle Go to her death on the tracks. Go was at a Times Square subway station on Jan. 15 when Simon allegedly shoved her into the path of an oncoming R train just after 9:30 a.m. The two did not know each other, authorities have said. The case has brought more attention to crime, homelessness and mental health – issues that have received renewed focus as the city urges passengers to return to the trains following plummeting ridership during the pandemic. Simon, 61, is homeless and has a long history of mental illness. He turned himself in to police minutes after the attack and is being held at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan while a judge awaits a psychiatric evaluation in the case.
Winston Glynn
Glynn is facing charges of first-degree robbery and murder in the Jan. 9 shooting death of Kristal Bayron-Nieves – among a string of shocking gun violence incidents in the city within a matter of weeks that made national headlines. Bayron-Nieves, 19, was working at an East Harlem Burger King when Glynn came in around 1 a.m. demanding cash from the register, police said. Before shooting Bayron-Nieves, he allegedly punched the restaurant manager and pistol-whipped another customer. Glynn fled the scene with just $100 cash and was arrested five days later in Brooklyn, authorities said. At his initial hearing, which Bragg attended, a judge granted the office’s request to hold Glynn without bail. Authorities are also probing whether Glynn, 30, and another man whose most recent address was a homeless shelter had a history of mental illness. He is due back in court on Feb. 14.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
The Oscar winner is facing sex abuse charges related to three separate incidents at Manhattan nightclubs. After he was arrested in June 2019 and charged with groping a 28-year-old woman while at the Magic Hour bar in Midtown, two additional women came forward alleging he grabbed them in 2018 in separate incidents at Lavo and Tao nightclubs. Both the Tao and Magic Hour encounters were caught on surveillance footage and aired in media reports. Gooding, 54, is charged with six counts of misdemeanor forcible touching and sex abuse. He has pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not been set.
Robert Carmona
One of four individuals accused in a 141-count, multistate gun bust, Carmona is charged with selling weapons in front of the West 55th Street building where he worked as a doorman. Authorities also allege he stored ammunition in his work locker and sold additional firearms out of his home in Morningside Heights. Within a six-month period last year, he sold a total of 80 weapons, most of which were purchased in Tennessee and obtained by Carmona through a middle man, officials have said. Carmona has been jailed at Rikers Island since he was ordered held without bail following his October arrest.
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