Former Trump executive Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months in jail for perjury

Former
Trump
Organization
Chief
Financial
Officer
Allen
Weisselberg
on
Wednesday
was
sentenced
to
five
months
in
jail
for

lying
under
oath
during
the
civil
business

fraud
trial
of
former
President

Donald
Trump.

Weisselberg
declined
to
speak
before
the
judge
in
a
brief
hearing
in
Manhattan
criminal
court.
The
76-year-old
former
executive
is
expected
to
head
directly
to
New
York
City’s
Rikers
Island
to
begin
serving
the
sentence
on
two
counts
of
perjury
in
the
first
degree.

It
will
be
Weisselberg’s
second
time
behind
bars
in
two
years
in
connection
with
his
work
for
Trump’s
company.
He
spent
three
months

in
jail
at
Rikers
last
year
after
pleading
guilty
to
helping
orchestrate
a

tax
fraud
scheme
at
the
business.

“Allen
Weisselberg
accepted
responsibility
for
his
conduct
and
now
looks
forward
to
the
end
of
this
life-altering
experience
and
to
returning
to
his
family
and
his
retirement,”
said
his
attorney,
Seth
Rosenberg,
in
a
statement
later
Wednesday.

The
tax
and
perjury
charges
were
brought
by
the
office
of
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg,
who
is
prosecuting
Trump
on
charges
of
falsifying
business
records
as
part
of
a
hush
money
scheme.

That
case
is
set
to
head
to
trial
Monday
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court.
Weisselberg
is
not
required
to
testify
in
it.
Trump’s
attorneys
have
tried
numerous
times
to
delay
the
trial,
including
by
claiming
that
Weisselberg’s
sentencing
was
scheduled
deliberately
near
it
in
order
to
drum
up
more
negative
news
coverage
against
Trump.

New
York
appellate
judges
on

Monday
and

Tuesday
of
this
week
rejected
two
other
recent
attempts
by
Trump’s
attorneys
to
postpone
the
hush
money
trial.

Weisselberg
on
March
4
admitted
lying
during
his
testimony
in
the
civil
fraud
trial
brought
by
New
York
Attorney
General
Letitia
James
against
Trump,
his
two
adult
sons,
his
business
and
its
executives.

Weisselberg
falsely
testified
that
he
was
unfocused
on
the
details
of
Trump’s
triplex
apartment,
which
was
valued
at
almost
three
times
its
actual
size
on
Trump’s
financial
statements.

Weisselberg
pleaded
guilty
to
two
counts
of
lying
about
the
size
of
that
apartment
during
a
2020
investigative
deposition,
his
plea
deal
with
prosecutors
showed.

But
he
also
admitted
to
committing
conduct
related
to
three
additional
perjury
counts,
which
centered
on
false
statements
Weisselberg
made
in
a
May
2023
deposition,
and
in
his
trial
testimony
in
October.

Trump
was
found
liable
for
fraudulently
inflating
the
values
of
his
properties
and
other
assets
on
years
of
financial
forms.
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
Judge
Arthur
Engoron
ordered
Trump
to
pay
a
total
of
$454
million
in
fines
and
interest.
Trump
is
appealing
that
verdict.