The Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has filed a statement of facts detailing an alleged “catch and kill” scheme involving Donald Trump, his former attorney Michael Cohen, and American Media Inc. (AMI) CEO David Pecker. The scheme involved former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin, who was allegedly paid $30,000 for exclusive rights to a false story about Trump fathering a “love child” with a worker in the 1980s. The payment was falsely recorded in AMI’s financial records, and the company purchased the story without fully investigating its claims.
Although the claims were later found to be untrue, Attorney Cohen gave CEO Pecker the order to keep Sajudin under contract until after the 2016 presidential election. After Trump won, Sajudin’s nondisclosure agreement was terminated, and CEO Pecker was invited to Trump’s inauguration and dinner at the White House.
In the alleged “catch and kill” scheme, Trump was accused of falsifying business records on 34 felony counts in the district attorney’s indictment. However, he pleaded not guilty to the charges. CEO Pecker signed a non-prosecution agreement in 2018 to shield himself from prosecution for his involvement in the payoffs. Due to the two-year statute of limitations on the case, he will also not be charged with falsifying business records. The next time Trump will appear in court is in December.