Ex-Gotti Jr. prosecutor joins Manhattan DA’s Trump probe, has already interviewed Michael Cohen
A former fed who brought down one Teflon Don is coming for Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance recently hired a mob-busting ex-prosecutor to help him investigate former President Donald Trump over a range of alleged financial fraud — and the new member of the team has already interviewed a key player in the high-profile probe, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mark Pomerantz, a veteran white-collar attorney who prosecuted former Gambino crime family boss John “Junior” Gotti and other mobsters in the 1990s, was tapped by Vance as a special assistant district attorney on Feb. 3, said Danny Frost, a spokesman for the DA.
Frost declined to comment on specifics about Pomerantz’s role, but a source close to Vance’s office said he was hired specifically for the Trump inquiry.
Another source told the Daily News that Pomerantz interviewed Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, on Thursday.
The source said Thursday’s sit-down with Pomerantz was Cohen’s fifth interview with Vance’s team, suggesting the ex-Trump attorney is of key interest to the DA as he ramps up his investigation now that the former president is no longer in the White House.
Cohen, who’s serving a three-year prison sentence in home confinement for pleading guilty to issuing illegal hush payments to a couple of Trump’s alleged paramours and other crimes, declined to comment.
According to court filings from his prosecutors, Vance is investigating Trump and his namesake business over tax, bank and insurance fraud stemming from the ex-president’s potentially illegal habit of inflating and deflating the value of his assets and properties.
Pomerantz’s hire signals Vance is continuing to expand the scope of his inquiry as he waits on a long-delayed ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether he can access eight years’ worth of Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
As part of the investigation, Vance has reportedly also contracted FTI, a major financial consulting company, to help him scrutinize Trump’s voluminous financial dealings. Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital, two of Trump’s main lenders, have been subpoenaed in the probe.
Pomerantz, whose hire was first reported by the New York Times, served as chief of the criminal division of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office in the late 1990s. In that role, he oversaw some of the most explosive federal prosecutions of the time, including the successful racketeering case against Gotti, who was known as “Teflon Don, Jr.” for his history of getting away with alleged crimes, much like his late father.
These days, Pomerantz works as a white-collar and financial crime attorney for the high-powered Paul-Weiss law firm in Manhattan. He could not be reached for comment, but his page on Paul-Weiss’ website notes that he is “on leave.”
Trump, who has largely stayed out of the public spotlight at his private Florida club since leaving the White House, did not return a request for comment via a spokesman.
The ex-president denies any wrongdoing and has railed against Vance’s probe as a politically-motivated “witch hunt.”
Though he was acquitted last week by the Senate of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump faces myriad legal jeopardies now that he’s a private citizen.
In addition to Vance’s investigation, a district attorney in Georgia has launched a criminal inquiry into whether Trump broke the law by pressuring a local top official to “find” him enough votes to overturn President Biden’s election victory in the state.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is also conducting a civil investigation into Trump’s alleged asset inflation and deflation. Parts of James’ probe appear to overlap with Vance’s.
