Trump’s ex-finance chief pleads guilty to perjury

New York — Former Trump Organization CEO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to perjury charges on Monday, the latest legal woe for former US president Donald Trump’s longtime loyal deputy.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to two perjury counts through his lawyer Seth Rosenberg at a hearing before judge Laurie Peterson in a Manhattan criminal court hearing.

He was led into the court in handcuffs after surrendering to authorities earlier on Monday.

Peterson said Weisselberg would be sentenced to five months in jail. The perjury charges stem from his testimony in a civil fraud trial against Trump and an earlier deposition in that case, prosecutor Gary Fishman said.

Weisselberg, 76, said on the witness box in October that he was not involved in an incorrect valuation of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse — one of a series of misleading financial statements that New York state attorney-general Letitia James said amounted to a fraudulent effort to dupe lenders.

Forbes later published a report accusing Weisselberg of lying on the stand. The magazine said a review of old emails and notes showed he sought to convince its reporters over several years that the apartment was worth more than it truly was.

Trump’s 2015 financial statement valued the unit at $327m based on an estimate that it was 30,000 square feet, nearly three times its actual size.

James called the valuation “absurd.”

He was ordered last month to pay $1.1m including interest as Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was found liable for manipulating his net worth in a civil fraud case brought by New York state’s attorney-general.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the trial part of a political witch hunt aimed at derailing his third run for the White House.

Weisselberg’s plea comes ahead of Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan starting March 25 on charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 election. Trump, who faces three other criminal indictments related to efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his handling of government documents, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Weisselberg is not expected to co-operate against the former president, the New York Times said.

He worked for the former president’s family for half a century, and had spent about three months in New York’s Rikers Island jail in 2023 after pleading guilty to participating in a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization.

Weisselberg had testified at the Trump Organization’s 2022 trial that found the company guilty of all charges and fined $1.6m. Trump was not charged in that case.

Reuters