Trump ex-deputy Weisselberg to be sentenced over perjury plea

[April 10, 2024]  By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday after pleading guilty last month to perjury charges for lying to investigators and a judge about Donald Trump's finances.

Judge Laurie Peterson said at Weisselberg's March 4 plea hearing that she would sentence him to five months in jail.

That would mark the second stint behind bars for the former U.S. president's longtime loyal deputy. Weisselberg, 76, spent around three months in New York's Rikers Island jail in 2023 after pleading guilty to participating in a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization.

The perjury charges stem from Weisselberg's testimony at a civil fraud case New York state Attorney General Letitia James brought against Trump, Weisselberg and other executives at Trump's family real estate company for manipulating property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Weisselberg testified at the trial on Oct. 10 that he was not involved in an incorrect valuation of Trump's Manhattan townhouse. Trump's 2015 and 2016 financial statements valued the unit at $327 million based on its stated size of more than 30,000 square feet, nearly three times the actual size.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which brought the charges against Weisselberg, said the former CFO's emails showed he was in fact paying close attention to the apartment.

Weisselberg also admitted to lying about his role in Trump's financial statements during two earlier depositions with James' office.

Trump Organization's former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg appears in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, U.S., March 4, 2024. Curtis Means/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, is appealing Justice Arthur Engoron's order that he pay $454 million in penalties and interest for fraudulently valuing properties. Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1.1 million including interest.

Weisselberg worked for the former president's family for half a century. His written plea agreement did not indicate if he would be cooperating with Bragg's office.

Trump is set to go on trial starting on Monday on criminal charges of covering up $130,000 in hush money his former lawyer Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

The case, also brought by Bragg, is poised to be the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Trump also faces three other indictments, which stem from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his handling of sensitive government documents. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)

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