On Wednesday Former finance chief of Donald Trump, Allen Weisselberg was jailed for five months for perjury after he accepted lying to prosecutors because they investigated the former president for fraudulently inflating his wealth.
Allen Weisselberg, 76, was the chief financial officer of Donald Trump’s real estate and entertainment group from 2005 to 2021.
The jailing of Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury related to his 2020 questioning during the fraud investigation, comes less than a week before Trump is due to go on trial for covering up hush money payments to hide a sex scandal.
In return for accepting that he lied when discussing Trump’s valuation of the mogul’s New York penthouse apartment, Weisselberg agreed with prosecutors to be sentenced to a lesser term of five months imprisonment.
As per the plea document, ‘The offences for which he was charged carried prison terms of up to seven years’.
Prosecutors also agreed not to seek further charges against Weisselberg linked to his time at the Trump Organization.
Trump was hit with a $355 million penalty on February 16 significantly more including interest after being found liable for fraudulently manipulating the value of his properties to get favorable conditions on loans and insurance.
Trump, a property developer and businessman in New York before entering politics, could have to sell properties to post collateral to cover the penalty if his appeal against the ruling fails.
Previously Weisselberg has served time in New York’s Rikers Island prison for his role in corporate tax fraud for which the Trump company was fined $1.6 million.
It is there that he will serve this latest sentence. He was personally fined $2 million after pleading guilty and agreeing to testify in the trial of Trump’s company.
Weisselberg’s testimony helped prosecutors gain the conviction of the Trump Organization and sister firm Trump Payroll Corp on 17 similar fraud and tax charges that included falsifying business records.
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