(USNewsMag.com) – Allen Weisselberg, former CFO of the Trump Organization and one of the co-defendants in the civil fraud lawsuit against the former president, admitted to perjury by providing false testimony about his knowledge of details about one of Trump’s apartments and its value.
The ex-CFO was hit with five perjury charges but made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to two other felony counts related to testimony Weisselberg gave in 2020 during a deposition with the New York Attorney General’s office. Although he did admit to giving false testimony in the civil fraud trial brought against Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James last fall, the charges to which he pled guilty were unrelated.
Weisselberg and prosecutors came to an agreement that the former CFO would not plead guilty to charges of perjury during the civil fraud trial despite admitting he was aware of the true square footage of one of Trump’s triplex apartments after the former president gave incorrect numbers on financial records for years. Both parties agreed that Weisselberg would not be sentenced for that, even though it technically violated his parole from a 2022 guilty plea for tax fraud.
On Monday, February 4th, Weisselberg pled guilty to lying during a deposition in 2020 in which he claimed to be unaware that the former president falsely reported the size of his triplex in 2015 during an interview with Forbes. The former Trump Organization CFO admitted he was present at that interview.
Gary Fishman, one of the prosecutors, said that although he would not recommend a prison sentence of more than five months considering the defendant’s age, some time in prison was still necessary because perjury is a serious crime that “tears at the very fabric” of the American justice system.
The guilty plea marks the second such occasion for Weisselberg, who was already sentenced to five months and served 100 days behind bars in Rikers Island after pleading guilty to tax fraud in 2022.
Copyright 2024, USNewsMag.com
