A longtime executive at Donald Trump’s company was sentenced to five months in jail on Wednesday after pleading guilty to lying under oath in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into business practices at the Trump Organization.
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Allen Weisselberg, who worked for the Trump family for a half-century before retiring recently, was taken into custody after a brief proceeding in New York Supreme Court and is expected to serve his sentence at Rikers Island, the city’s sprawling jail complex near LaGuardia Airport.
It was not clear whether Weisselberg will be called as a witness at Trump’s criminal trial scheduled to begin Monday in New York.
Weisselberg, 76, now a Florida resident, pleaded guilty on March 4 to several counts of perjury for lying in sworn testimony both before and during New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud trial. He has been embroiled in Trump’s legal issues for years because he was a key figure at the former president’s namesake company for decades.
Weisselberg was a defendant in the civil fraud trial and was ordered in February to pay $1 million as a penalty, representing the amount of severance he received from the company. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found that Weisselberg was a player in the persistent fraud and that his severance was an award for remaining loyal to Trump.
Trump was fined more than $350 million, representing ill-gotten gains earned through deceptive practices in real estate deals. He owes another $100 million in prejudgment interest, but he is appealing the judge’s decision.
In 2023, Weisselberg served about three months of a five-month sentence related to the company’s tax fraud case. The Trump Organization was convicted and fined $1.6 million, the maximum allowed by law.
In that matter, Weisselberg blamed himself and another executive, Jeffrey McConney, for orchestrating a 15-year tax evasion scheme that sought to compensate company executives, including Weisselberg, with unreported benefits such as free cars, apartments and other paid personal expenses. Weisselberg testified that Trump was not involved in those crimes.
Weisselberg held several titles at the Trump Organization and spent years as its chief financial officer.
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Allen Weisselberg, who worked for the Trump family for a half-century before retiring recently, was taken into custody after a brief proceeding in New York Supreme Court and is expected to serve his sentence at Rikers Island, the city’s sprawling jail complex near LaGuardia Airport.
It was not clear whether Weisselberg will be called as a witness at Trump’s criminal trial scheduled to begin Monday in New York.
Weisselberg, 76, now a Florida resident, pleaded guilty on March 4 to several counts of perjury for lying in sworn testimony both before and during New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud trial. He has been embroiled in Trump’s legal issues for years because he was a key figure at the former president’s namesake company for decades.
Weisselberg was a defendant in the civil fraud trial and was ordered in February to pay $1 million as a penalty, representing the amount of severance he received from the company. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found that Weisselberg was a player in the persistent fraud and that his severance was an award for remaining loyal to Trump.
Trump was fined more than $350 million, representing ill-gotten gains earned through deceptive practices in real estate deals. He owes another $100 million in prejudgment interest, but he is appealing the judge’s decision.
In 2023, Weisselberg served about three months of a five-month sentence related to the company’s tax fraud case. The Trump Organization was convicted and fined $1.6 million, the maximum allowed by law.
In that matter, Weisselberg blamed himself and another executive, Jeffrey McConney, for orchestrating a 15-year tax evasion scheme that sought to compensate company executives, including Weisselberg, with unreported benefits such as free cars, apartments and other paid personal expenses. Weisselberg testified that Trump was not involved in those crimes.
Weisselberg held several titles at the Trump Organization and spent years as its chief financial officer.
