Matthew Calamari, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, stands in the lobby of Trump Tower January 12, 2017 in New York City.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
Manhattan prosecutors are eyeing Matthew Calamari, a top Trump organization executive, as part of their criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump and his company, NBC News reported Tuesday.
It was previously known that DA Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office was also focusing its investigation on another senior Trump Org executive, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.
Calamari, who is the chief operating officer of the Trump Org, and Weisselberg have not been charged with wrongdoing. Neither the company nor Trump, who claims the investigation is a witch hunt.
Calamari is a former Trump bodyguard. His son Matthew Calamari Jr. is the company’s director of security.
A 1993 book about Trump shows a scene in which Trump asks Calamari, then his bodyguard, while driving a limo, “You would do anything for me, wouldn’t you, Matty?” The Washington Post noted in 2019.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Trump,” replied Calamari, according to the biography of Harry Hurt III, “Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump,” cited by the Post.
“Moments later, Trump increased the stake: ‘Would you kill for me, Matty?'” The Post reported.
“Calamari’s answer came quickly. ‘Yes sir,’ he said.”
Both Calamaris have hired Nicholas Gravante Jr. as their attorney for Vance’s investigation. Granvante declined to comment Tuesday when contacted by NBC News.
A spokesman for Vance’s office declined to speak to CNBC. A Trump organization spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Vance’s focus on calamari, saying prosecutors are investigating whether he received any tax-free fringe benefits from the company.
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Vance is using a special grand jury to investigate whether the Trump Organization has illegally misrepresented the value of real estate assets for various purposes, either to get tax benefits or better credit and insurance terms.
Speaking to Congress in 2019, Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified that Calamari and Weisselberg were among those who would know if Trump inflated the value of his assets for insurance purposes.
The investigation also looked into whether the company was properly taking into account a hush-money payment Cohen made to pornstar Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election in return for Daniels keeping silent about her alleged sexual encounter with the married Republican.
Trump denies Daniels’ claim and that of an affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal, who even before the election had received a hush money deal from the publisher of The National Enquirer, a Trump-friendly supermarket newspaper.
Cohen has cooperated with Vance’s investigation and met with prosecutors nine times.
