Allen WeisselbergThe Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of perjury related to statements he made while serving as president. Donald Trump‘s civil fraud trial.
“Mr. Weisselberg pleads guilty to the charges,” his attorney, Seth Rosenberg, told the judge in court.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recommended that Weisselberg be sentenced to five months in prison and agreed to be released before his April 10 sentencing.
The indictments accuse Weisselberg of perjury in the affidavit and also of perjury while testifying in Trump’s civil fraud trial. Bragg’s office alleged that Weisselberg lied in July 2020, claiming that he learned of Trump’s triplex apartment only after Forbes published an article detailing the matter, when in fact he was aware of the overpricing.
Bragg’s office also said that as part of the plea, Weisselberg admitted to conduct underlying other perjury cases.
“Lying in depositions and in court is a crime — plain and simple,” a district attorney’s spokesman said in a statement Monday.
“Allen Weisselberg swore that he was truthful and then perjured himself during both the New York Attorney General’s testimony at the Investigation and Trial and at their final trial,” the spokesperson said. “Today, Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to this crime and takes responsibility for his conduct.”
Assistant District Attorney Gary Fishman said in a statement, “The damage he caused has torn the fabric of our justice system to tears.”
Rosenberg declined to comment on the settlement. But in a later statement, Rosenberg said his client was “looking forward to putting this situation behind him.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung criticized Bragg in response to Weisselberg’s plea, arguing that the Manhattan district attorney committed “repeated prosecutorial misconduct in his illegal, desperate prosecution” of Trump, violating the federal and state constitutions and “Bragg’s ethical obligations.”
Bragg “was on a crusade of vindictive and oppressive oppression that led to Allen H. Weisselberg’s involuntary plea today,” Cheung said. “These are the tactics of corruption, election interference and persecution, taken from Joseph Stalin’s playbook. They are allowed in America.”
A source familiar with the matter said Weisselberg was not expected to enter into a cooperation agreement with the lawsuit, which would require him to testify at a future trial. Danielle Filson, Bragg’s communications director, said Weisselberg turned himself in to the Manhattan district attorney’s office Monday morning.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York State Judge Arthur Engoron also sought comment on allegations that Weisselberg lied on the stand during Trump’s trial, prompting the former president’s lawyer to withdraw the filing. “Unprecedented, inappropriate and disturbing.”
This is Weisselberg’s second confession. In 2022 he pleaded guilty to several tax fraud charges In a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization. He and the company were charged by Bragg’s office in the case, and he was sentenced to five months in prison. Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization were prosecuted and shot down $1.6 million in fines. Weisselberg agreed to pay $2 million in taxes for hiding his income for years with off-the-books perks like tuition for his grandchildren, a luxury apartment and two Mercedes Benz cars.
It was Weisselberg he was released from prison after a few months with time off for good behavior.
Engoron ordered Trump, his adult sons, associates and the Trump Organization last month Paying more than $350 million in damages and banned the former president from conducting business in New York for three years. After engoron He rejected Trump’s request to postpone enforcement of damages against him. Trump is expected to appeal the decision.
In his 92-page ruling in the civil fraud trial, Engoron wrote that Weisselberg lacked credibility on the stand, saying “his testimony in this trial was deliberately evasive and contained large gaps in his “I don’t remember.” the judge added that the testimony was “highly unreliable.” “Trump Organization Keeps Weisselberg Short, and It Shows.”