A judge on Wednesday sentenced former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to a five-month sentence for his second stint in the Riker Islands.
The latest blow for Wiesselberg, 76, comes after he pleaded guilty to perjury for statements related to Trump’s fraud trial in New York.
The loyal Trump executive who worked for the family for 50 years was found guilty last month of lying under oath during those proceedings.
He told the court he didn’t know how Trump’s Manhattan penthouse ended up listed three times its actual size on the company’s financial statements.
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg attends his sentencing in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 10, 2024, in New York City.
Weisselberg leaves court after being sentenced in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 10, 2024, in New York City.
The attic was a key piece of evidence in the case. Trump valued the penthouse in financial statements at 30,000 square feet. But internal documents put its actual footage at 10,996 square feet. When Forbes published an article about the size of the apartment, Trump’s financial statements value went down from $327 million to $117 million.
The Florida retiree will spend his second stint behind bars, but could be eligible for release in three months for good behavior.
Last year he served 100 days in prison for evading taxes on $1.7 million in company profits, including a free Manhattan apartment and luxury cars.
Prosecutors agreed to a lighter sentence because of Weisselberg’s age and his willingness to admit wrongdoing.
In New York, perjury is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
His deal with prosecutors also means he will not be charged with any other crimes he committed while working for the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg has remained steadfastly loyal to him during his legal troubles that ended in a fine of more than $300 million for Trump, and insisted that his boss did nothing wrong.
An appeals court reduced the sentence to $175 million, while Trump appeals Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision.
Weisselberg also won’t be forced to testify in Stormy Daniels’ money trial, which begins Monday in the historic first criminal trial for a former president.
Trump’s lawyers took issue with Weisselberg’s perjury prosecution, accusing the Manhattan district attorney’s office of deploying “unethical and violent tactics against an innocent man in his 70s” while turning a “blind eye” to the allegations. of perjury against Michael Cohen, the former Trump. lawyer who is now a key prosecution witness in the hush money case.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty on March 4.
Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, will be sentenced to his second term in the Riker Islands on Wednesday. He is pictured in court last month when he pleaded guilty.
The sentencing came days after Trump posted $175 million bail in his fraud trial in New York, although a judge is reviewing the funding.
The Florida retiree will undergo his second stint behind bars, but could be eligible for release in three months for good behavior.
Trump executive who worked for family for 50 years found guilty of lying under oath during former president’s fraud trial in New York
He told the court he didn’t know how Trump’s Manhattan penthouse ended up listed three times its actual size on the company’s financial statements.
He admitted lying under oath on three occasions while testifying in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Trump: in depositions in July 2020 and May 2023 and on the witness stand at last October’s trial.
However, to avoid violating probation in his tax case, he agreed to plead guilty only to charges related to his 2020 deposition testimony.
The size of Trump’s penthouse was a key issue in the civil fraud case.
Trump valued the apartment in his financial statements from at least 2012 to 2016 as measuring 30,000 square feet (2,800 square meters).
A former Trump real estate executive testified that Weisselberg provided the figure. The former executive said that when he asked about the size of the apartment in 2012, Weisselberg responded: “It’s pretty big.” I think it’s about 30,000 square feet.
However, state attorneys noted, Weisselberg received an email earlier that year with an attachment from 1994 that pegged Trump’s apartment at 10,996 square feet (1,022 square meters).
Weisselberg testified that he remembered the email but not the attachment and that he did not “walk in knowing the size” of the apartment.
After Forbes magazine published an article in 2017 questioning the size of Trump’s penthouse, its estimated value on his financial statement dropped from $327 million to approximately $117 million.
While Weisselberg was testifying last October, Forbes published an article with the headline ‘Trump’s Veteran CFO Lied, Under Oath, About Trump Tower Penthouse.’
The civil fraud trial ended with Judge Arthur Engoron ruling that Trump and some of his executives had planned to deceive banks, insurers and others by lying about their wealth in financial statements used to do business and obtain loans.
The judge fined Trump $455 million and ordered Weisselberg to pay $1 million. They are both attractive.
Weisselberg served 100 days on Rikers Island (above) last year for evading taxes on $1.7 million in company profits, including a free Manhattan apartment and luxury cars.
In his decision, Engoron said he found Weisselberg’s testimony “intentionally evasive” and “highly unreliable.”
Weisselberg is likely to influence Trump’s hush-money trial, even if he is in jail and not on the witness stand while it takes place.
Trump is accused of falsifying his company records to cover up payments during his 2016 campaign to bury stories of marital infidelity.
It is the first of four Trump criminal cases scheduled to go to trial. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.
Cohen has said Weisselberg played a role in orchestrating the payments. Weisselberg, who lives in Boynton Beach, Florida, has not been charged in that case, and neither prosecutors nor Trump’s lawyers have indicated they will call him as a witness.