Trump ex-deputy Weisselberg to be sentenced over perjury plea
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[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.
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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
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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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