A judge on Wednesday sentenced Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, to five months in jail for lying under oath in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud case in New York, according to multiple reports.
Weisselberg, 76, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of perjury. He will serve his sentence in the Rikers Island jail complex, The New York Times reported.
Charges against Weisselberg stem from the state’s investigation into Trump’s financial statements. In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit against Trump, his adult sons and his business executives — including Weisselberg — accusing them of lying about the value of their properties for years to get more favorable terms from insurers and lenders.
A judge handed down a $454 million penalty in fines and interest for Trump after finding him and his companies liable in the case. Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1.1 million, including interest.
Last month, the former Trump Organization executive admitted to lying during depositions in July 2020 and May 2023, court records show. He also admitted to lying on the stand in October while giving testimony in the civil fraud trial. He was charged with five counts of first-degree perjury but pleaded guilty to only two to avoid violating probation in an earlier tax case, according to court records and The Associated Press.
At issue was the size of Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which was listed as being 30,000 square feet on the former president’s financial statements, though it was actually 10,996 square feet.
In 2020, he told investigators under oath that he only learned about the discrepancy — which inflated the value of the property by more than $200 million — after Forbes magazine published an article claiming as much in May 2017. However, authorities said he knew the actual square footage of the apartment in 2012, citing an email he got that included the number. Weisselberg also lied about having been around Trump when the former president shared the inflated size of his property, court records show.
During his 2023 deposition, Weisselberg denied having any involvement in figuring out the numbers that went into valuing properties on Trump’s annual financial statements, despite the fact that he was “significantly involved” in determining what numbers were used, authorities said.
Weisselberg further lied on the stand last year when he claimed that he never focused on the size of the triplex and did nothing to verify its square footage before finalizing a financial statement for 2016, court records show.
The sentence handed down Wednesday marks the second for Weisselberg, who got a 5-month sentence last year after he pleaded guilty to playing a part in a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization. He served about three months in Rikers, Reuters reported.
With good behavior, the sentence handed down Wednesday for Weisselberg could be reduced to about 100 days, the Times reported.
© 2024 Cox Media Group
