Monday, March 04, 2024 – Allen Weisselberg, Donald Trump’s former Chief Financial Officer, has pleaded guilty to five counts of perjury in connection to testimony he gave during the former president’s civil fraud trial last fall.
The 76-year-old surrendered to the Manhattan district
attorney’s office early Monday, March 4 following weeks of negotiations with
prosecutors. He will be sentenced to five months in jail, according to The
Associated Press.
Weisselberg, who was sentenced last year to five months in
prison after being found guilty of multiple tax fraud charges in 2022, had been
suspected of lying about Trump's finances on the stand during Trump’s trial in
October.
Weisselberg answered questions from Judge Laurie Peterson
confirming his plea. Weisselberg told the judge he is pleading guilty because
he is guilty.
In reviewing the plea agreement, prosecutor Gary Fishman
said they considered Weisselberg’s age in not recommending more than five
months in prison but said prison time was necessary as the harm caused by
perjury “tears at the very fabric” of the justice system.
Weisselberg will be sentenced on April 10. Under the terms
of the deal with prosecutors, Weisselberg will be sentenced to five months in
jail – a deal identical to the prior arrangement he made in his 2022 plea. In
the previous case, he served about 100 days.
During his arraignment Monday morning, March 4, Weisselberg
acknowledged he lied when he testified to the attorney general during a 2020
deposition that he never heard Trump falsely misstate the size of Trump’s
triplex in a September 2015 interview with a Forbes reporter. He admitted he
was present for that Forbes interview.
Weisselberg also admitted he gave false testimony during a
May 2023 deposition when he tried to distance himself from the creation of
Trump’s inflated personal financial statements at issue in the AG’s civil fraud
case. Weisselberg acknowledged he falsely testified when he told state
attorneys that “I didn’t delve into the numbers” and that he relied on the
property valuations computed by former Trump Org. Controller Jeff McConney.
“These statements were false
as Weisselberg was significantly involved in determining what methodology and
numbers were used to value properties in the [statements of financial
condition],” the complaint says.
According to his plea agreement, Weisselberg also admitted
he lied again about these matters on the stand last October during the civil
fraud trial, though that is not among the charges to which he pleaded guilty.
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