Longtime Trump executive pleads guilty again, this time to perjury charges – The Washington Post
NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, the former longtime top financial officer of Donald Trump’s company, pleaded guilty Monday to perjury, admitting that he lied under oath to the New York attorney general’s office while it was investigating the former president.
The plea added to the web of Trump-related legal and financial peril that Weisselberg has faced in recent years, a period that saw him plead guilty to multiple felonies in a different case, serve months behind bars as a result and then face stiff sanctions, including a $1 million penalty, following a separate civil fraud trial.
The developments Monday came through an agreement with the office of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney. The plea also marked the latest legal loss suffered by Trump or someone in his orbit, this time only three weeks before Bragg’s office is set to prosecute Trump in a separate criminal case.
In that case, Trump is accused of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential campaign while seeking to keep adult-film actress Stormy Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — from publicly alleging that she had an affair with him years earlier. Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 25, which would mark the first criminal prosecution of a former president.
Neither side in that coming trial has suggested plans to call Weisselberg to testify, leaving it unclear whether his plea Monday could affect those proceedings.
In his case, Weisselberg, 76, faced five counts of perjury in the first degree — a felony — and agreed to plead guilty to two of them. His sentencing is scheduled for April 10. Bragg’s office said Weisselberg is expected to receive a five-month sentence.
The counts Weisselberg pleaded guilty to stemmed from comments he made in 2020 while testifying before the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) during its investigation of Trump and his financial statements.
That investigation led to James’s 2022 lawsuit against Trump, his company, Weisselberg and others in which she accused them of participating in a financial fraud by lying on financial statements to get better terms from lenders and insurers. A trial in that matter began in the fall and concluded this year, and a judge last month handed down millions of dollars in penalties and other punishments to Trump, Weisselberg and other defendants.
James’s office and her 2022 lawsuit accused the defendants in that case of knowingly lying on the financial statements. In one example included in the lawsuit, a Trump Tower triplex apartment was described as being 30,000 square feet — about three times its actual size.
According to the complaint filed by Bragg’s office in the new perjury case, Weisselberg was deposed in July 2020 during the attorney general’s investigation and questioned about the triplex’s size. The complaint said Weisselberg testified that he did not know the square-footage figure was incorrect and said he only learned this from a news media article later. But that was untrue, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Weisselberg also lied in May 2023 to the attorney general’s office during another deposition, falsely claiming he was not involved in valuing properties. Then, the complaint continued, he lied again in October 2023, this time while testifying during the civil fraud trial spurred by James’s lawsuit. During his testimony, the complaint alleged, Weisselberg falsely said he “never focused on the triplex” and “never thought about that apartment,” even though emails and conversations disproved that.
“It is a crime to lie in depositions and at trial — plain and simple,” a spokesperson for Bragg’s office said in a statement. By pleading guilty, the statement said, Weisselberg is “being held responsible for his conduct.”
The agreement signed by Bragg’s office and Weisselberg stated that he was pleading guilty specifically to perjury counts relating to his July 2020 testimony. He also admitted “that he committed the conduct as alleged” in May 2023 and then October 2023, while not pleading guilty to those counts.
The plea agreement signed by Bragg’s office and Weisselberg does not include any language requiring Weisselberg to testify during Trump’s upcoming criminal trial.
“Allen Weisselberg looks forward to putting this situation behind him,” Seth L. Rosenberg, an attorney for Weisselberg, said in a statement released by his law firm.
Weisselberg has faced repeated legal and investigative scrutiny recently, including in another criminal case. In 2021, he and the Trump Organization were indicted and accused of carrying out a long-standing fraud aimed at hiding income from tax authorities.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty in 2022 to committing more than a dozen felonies. He was sentenced to five months in jail and five years of probation, then released after about three months. The company was convicted in 2022, then ordered to pay $1.6 million in fines.
An attorney said at the time of Weisselberg’s previous guilty plea in 2022 that the decision was meant “to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family.” Monday’s plea means Weisselberg has now pleaded guilty to 17 total counts across the two cases.
Trump and his associates have long assailed scrutiny from investigators and law enforcement, saying he and others have been treated improperly. He is seeking another term in office while facing four pending criminal cases. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all matters and argued that he is being politically targeted.
Christopher Kise, an attorney for Trump, said in a statement Monday that Bragg “continues to waste public resources in a tyrannical attempt to impede President Trump’s ongoing ascent to the White House.”
“This plea was no doubt extorted by threatening an elderly and innocent man with immediate and lengthy incarceration,” Kise said.
The upcoming criminal trial involves Trump’s alleged misclassification of reimbursement payments to Michael Cohen, a former Trump associate turned nemesis, who paid the adult-film actress $130,000 to keep her from speaking out.
Weisselberg was not named in the indictment against Trump in that case in Manhattan, though a statement of facts filed by the district attorney’s office alleged that Cohen discussed the payments with the Trump Organization’s finance chief. Cohen, meanwhile, has pleaded guilty in two criminal cases, including to lying to Congress.
Last month, Weisselberg also faced reprimand and punishment after the trial prompted by James’s lawsuit. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued a written decision in that case, announcing an array of punishments against Trump, Weisselberg and others and admonishing them.
Engoron was bluntly critical of Weisselberg, writing in his decision that the former finance chief’s testimony “was intentionally evasive” and “highly unreliable.” The judge also noted that Weisselberg was awaiting more payments from his separation agreement from the Trump Organization, saying the company “keeps Weisselberg on a short leash, and it shows.”
Weisselberg was found liable for $1 million and given a lifetime ban from working in “the financial control function” of any New York company. Defendants in the case quickly vowed to appeal the judge’s decision.
Berman reported from Washington.
The latest: Former president Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York is scheduled for March 2024, making it the first criminal prosecution of an ex-president. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts stemming from 2016 payments.
What is the case about? The investigation involves a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress, during the 2016 presidential campaign. It’s one of many ongoing investigations involving Trump. Here are some of the key people in the case.
What are the charges? Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Falsifying business records is a felony in New York when there is an “intent to defraud” that includes an intent to “commit another crime or to aid or conceal” another crime. Here’s the full text of the Trump indictment.
Can Trump still run for president? While it has never been attempted by a candidate from a major party before, Trump is allowed to run for president while under indictment — or even if he is convicted of a crime. Here’s how Trump’s indictment could impact the 2024 election.