Trump ally could face perjury charge if he doesn't cooperate
One of former President Donald Trump's longtime lieutenants, Allen Weisselberg, was recently released from the notorious Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to a tax fraud scheme. Yet Weisselberg's legal troubles are far from over.
The Manhattan district attorney's office is now considering a new round of criminal charges against Weisselberg, 75, and this time he could be charged with perjury, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The threat of new charges represents the latest effort in a twoyear campaign to persuade Weisselberg to testify against Trump. And it comes at a crucial time, just weeks after District Attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled an indictment of the former president.
Weisselberg has so far refused to turn against his former boss, but the prosecutors recently ramped up the pressure, warning his lawyers that they might bring the perjury charges if their client declined to testify against Trump, two of the people said.
The potential perjury charges stem from statements Weisselberg made under oath during a 2020 interview with the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was conducting her own separate civil investigation into Trump and his family business.
It is not clear which part of his testimony raised red flags for prosecutors and James, or how Bragg might prove that Weisselberg
intentionally made a false statement.
As a trusted financial gatekeeper to Trump's family for nearly a halfcentury, Weisselberg was privy to behind-the-scenes machinations that could make him a valuable witness on several fronts.
He could help Bragg in the case unveiled against Trump last month — which stems from a $130,000 hush-money payment to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaign — as well as with a separate investigation into whether Trump fraudulently inflated his own annual financial statements. James' office is participating in that ongoing investigation.
If Weisselberg refuses to cooperate, he could face a range of new charges. In addition to pursuing the perjury case, the prosecutors have indicated to his lawyers that they are considering unrelated insurance fraud charges against him.
They also appear to be weighing whether to charge Weisselberg with inflating the numbers on Trump's financial statements. The prosecutors recently sought to interview one of Weisselberg's former Trump Organization colleagues, who might be able to shed light on his involvement in crafting the annual statements, the people said.
There is no sign that Weisselberg, who recently retired from the Trump Organization with a hefty payout, is close to breaking, or that charges are imminent. But the latest prosecutorial pressure campaign may raise questions about the fairness of threatening a man of advanced age who just got out of jail.