Former Trump CFO Gets Second Jail Term

UPDATE Apr 10, 2024 8:59 AM CDT

Allen Weisselberg, a retired executive in Donald Trump's real estate empire, received his expected sentence of five months in jail Wednesday for lying under oath during the civil fraud lawsuit brought against Trump in New York. Weisselberg pleaded guilty last month to two counts of perjury in connection with the suit, per the AP. He admitted lying when he testified he had little knowledge of how Trump's Manhattan penthouse came to be valued on his financial statements at nearly three times its actual size. It will be Weisselberg's second time behind bars. The former Trump Organization chief financial officer served 100 days last year for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in company perks.

Mar 4, 2024 10:10 AM CST

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty Monday in New York to perjury in connection with testimony he gave at the ex-president's civil fraud trial. As the AP reports, Weisselberg, 76, surrendered to the Manhattan prosecutor's office earlier Monday and entered state court in handcuffs, wearing a mask, before pleading guilty to five counts of perjury. Prosecutors accused Weisselberg of lying under oath when he answered questions in a deposition in May and at the October trial about allegations that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies. Weisselberg will be sentenced to five months in jail, the judge said.

After the New York Times reported last month that Weisselberg was in negotiations to plead guilty to perjury, Justice Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial, ordered attorneys to provide details related to the Times' report. Weisselberg's new criminal case comes just weeks before Trump is scheduled to stand trial on separate allegations that he falsified business records. That case involves allegations that Trump falsified company records to cover up hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing. Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen has said Weisselberg had a role in orchestrating the payments, but he has not been charged in that case, and neither prosecutors nor Trump's lawyers have indicated they will call him as a witness. That trial is scheduled to begin March 25.

story continues below

Weisselberg's case is separate from the criminal case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against Trump last year. Weisselberg previously served 100 days in jail last year after pleading guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization. He is still on probation. Prior to that he had no criminal record. He left New York City's notorious Rikers Island in April, days after Trump was indicted in his New York hush money criminal case. (More Allen Weisselberg stories.)