(NEW YORK) — Allen Weisselberg, once the long-serving chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, will be sentenced Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.
Weisselberg is expected to report to Rikers Island immediately following the sentencing hearing to begin serving his second stint behind bars. He served three months last year for evading taxes on perks he received as part of his compensation from the Trump Organization.
The former CFO pleaded guilty to lying under oath while testifying about his knowledge of the size of the Trump Tower triplex in New York City. Prosecutors said Weisselberg was trying to obtain favorable loan, insurance rates and “other economic benefits,” according to Gary Fishman, who presented the case for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“Do you admit to all of that?” Judge Laurie Peterson asked during a plea hearing last month. “Yes, your honor,” Weisselberg replied.
Perjury “tears at the very fabric of our justice system,” Fishman said.
During his trial testimony, Weisselberg struggled to explain why Trump’s 5th Avenue triplex, which is less than 11,000 square feet, was listed on statements of financial condition as 30,000 square feet.
“It was almost de minimis relative to his net worth, so I didn’t really focus on it,” Weisselberg said during trial. “I never even thought about the apartment.”
But Forbes published an article following Weisselberg’s appearance that accused him of lying under oath and suggested Weisselberg did think about the apartment because he played a key role in trying to convince the magazine the apartment was as big as Trump’s financial statements represented.
At trial, a lawyer with the New York AG’s office, Louis Solomon, confronted Weisselberg with emails from a Forbes reporter seeking clarity about the apartment’s size and a letter signed by Weisselberg certifying the excessive square footage to the Trump Organization’s accountant, Mazars USA.
“Forbes was right, the triplex was actually only 10,996 right?” Solomon asked. “Right,” Weisselberg finally conceded.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron in February ordered Trump to pay $464 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest after he found the former president and his adult sons liable for using “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate his net worth in order to get more favorable loan terms. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has appealed the decision in the case.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
