February 18, 2025
Trump's former finance chief is negotiating to plead guilty to perjury

[ad_1]

People with knowledge of the matter said that Donald J. Allen H. Weisselberg, Trump’s longtime lieutenant, is negotiating a deal with Manhattan prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to perjury.

As part of a potential settlement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Mr. Weisselberg would have to admit that he lied as a witness in Mr. Trump’s recent civil fraud trial, the people said.

Mr. Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of Mr. Trump’s family business, also must say he lied under oath during an interview with the New York attorney general’s office, leading to a civil fraud case.

The situation arose from a mesh of criminal and civil cases brought by the two agencies and prosecuted by the District Attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, whose prosecutors had sought Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation as they investigated whether Mr. Trump committed election crimes. and financial crimes. Even without Mr. Weisselberg’s cooperation, he convicted Mr. Trump last year in the election-related case, which is scheduled to go to trial in late March.

The deal being negotiated likely would not require Mr. Weisselberg, 76, to turn on his former boss. Although Mr. Weisselberg was involved in the action at the core of that case — a hush-money payment to bury a potential sex scandal just before the 2016 election — prosecutors are not expected to call him as a witness. And the investigation that most needed Mr. Weisselberg’s help, namely the district attorney’s investigation into Mr. Trump’s finances, may no longer be a priority for prosecutors.

Although the potential settlement is unlikely to have an immediate impact on Mr Trump, it could strengthen Mr Bragg’s hand ahead of the former president’s trial. This could prevent other witnesses in Mr Trump’s circle from lying on the stand. And perjury charges could discredit Mr. Weisselberg, who has disputed the details of prosecutors’ evidence in the case involving the 2016 election.

Yet Mr. Weisselberg, a fiercely loyal aide who for decades oversaw the finances of Mr. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, already had credibility problems: This would be his second guilty plea in Manhattan in two years.

Mr. Weisselberg previously admitted that he hatched a scheme to reward himself and other Trump Organization executives with off-the-books luxuries. He went to jail on Rikers Island for almost 100 days, and while he was there, the District Attorney’s office warned him that they could file new charges.

Mr. Bragg’s office reiterated that threat after the fraud trial last month, according to people with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity to discuss confidential talks. This gave impetus to petition talks. If the two sides do not agree, the District Attorney’s Office could seek to convict Mr. Weisselberg.

Prosecutors often argue that perjury – especially in a high-profile trial – undermines the broader ends of justice and cannot be ignored.

But Mr Trump’s legal team has condemned what it believes is overzealous prosecution in the service of Mr Trump’s larger goals, and has argued that Mr Weisselberg – a septuagenarian with no violent history It would be unfair to send – to jail. second time.

Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyer, Seth Rosenberg, declined to comment through a spokesman for his firm, Kleiman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder. A lawyer for Mr Trump also declined to comment, but the former president has previously accused Mr Bragg, a Democrat, of a politically motivated plot against him and Mr Weisselberg.

A spokesman for Mr. Bragg declined to comment.

It is not yet clear whether, if the deal goes through, Mr. Weisselberg would plead guilty to a low-level felony or misdemeanor, or what his punishment might be.

It’s also not clear which of Mr. Weisselberg’s statements caught the attention of prosecutors in the civil fraud case — but trial transcripts hint.

In 2022, the Attorney General, Letitia James, sued Mr. Trump, his adult sons, and Mr. Weisselberg, accusing them of fraudulently inflating the value of the former president’s assets in order to obtain favorable loans from banks. Planted. One such property was Mr. Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which is 10,996 square feet, but for years was listed as 30,000 square feet in his annual financial statements.

While testifying, Mr. Weisselberg claimed that he “never focused” on the unit.

Shortly thereafter, Forbes magazine published an article stating that Mr. Weisselberg had lied under oath. The article cites emails and notes between the former chief financial officer and the magazine, which compiles its list of America’s richest people, which show that Mr. Weisselberg “spoke to Forbes about the apartment over the course of several years.” Played an important role in trying to explain”. price.

After that article was published, Mr. Weisselberg suddenly stopped testifying.

Mr. Weisselberg was questioned under oath about Triplex during an interview with Ms. James’s office in 2020, statements that may now also be under investigation by the district attorney’s office.

A plea would mark the end of a legal challenge for Mr. Weisselberg. After serving the Trump family out of the public eye for decades, his life was turned upside down in the summer of 2021, when Mr. Bragg’s predecessor filed criminal charges against him and the Trump Organization for a tax fraud scheme involving luxury perks. Filed.

In August 2022, Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Mr. Trump’s company. After the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and other crimes that year, Judge Juan M. Marchan decided that Mr. Weisselberg had testified truthfully as per the deal.

But none of Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony harmed Mr. Trump personally. In fact, Mr. Weisselberg never produced any evidence implicating the former president in any matters.

Mr. Weisselberg faces prison in early 2023, but not before Mr. Trump’s company gave him a $2 million severance package that requires him not to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation unless legally required. .

In April, while Mr. Weisselberg was on Rikers Island, Mr. Bragg announced criminal charges against Mr. Trump over what prosecutors say was his cover-up of a sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors also resumed their pressure campaign while Mr. Weisselberg was behind bars. They offered him a way out: cooperate with the district attorney’s office against Mr. Trump and avoid further jail time. Mr. Weisselberg still did not move.

Source: www.nytimes.com

[ad_2]

Leave a Reply