Trump’s former finance chief sentenced 5 months for perjury
Weisselberg headed to Rikers for second time
NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, former president Donald Trump’s longtime financial lieutenant, was sentenced Wednesday to five months in the Rikers Island jail complex for perjury, capping a legal saga that has now landed him behind bars twice.
The sentence, handed down by a state court judge in Manhattan, came just five days before Trump is to go on trial in the same courthouse on accusations that he covered up a sex scandal. Weisselberg was not charged in the same case as Trump, but he would not be headed to jail if not for his former boss’s own troubles: Prosecutors set their sights on Weisselberg after he refused to turn on Trump.
Last month, Weisselberg, 76, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury committed while he was being questioned in 2020 by the New York attorney general’s office, which was investigating Trump for fraud.
In a brief and perfunctory appearance before Judge Laurie Peterson, Weisselberg, wearing a dark jacket and a blue surgical mask, showed little emotion. When the judge asked if he wanted to say anything, he simply responded, “No, your honor.”
Overall, the sentencing lasted about three minutes, a quicker and less dramatic proceeding than when he was last sentenced to jail in early 2023.
“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,” his lawyer, Seth Rosenberg, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment. A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The most recent charges against Weisselberg stemmed from James’s civil fraud investigation into Trump. The attorney general ultimately sued Trump and several associates, including Weisselberg, accusing them of inflating his financial statements to receive better loan terms.
After a months-long civil trial, Judge Arthur Engoron levied a $454 million judgment against Trump.
For his role, Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, was penalized $1 million and prohibited from serving in a financial capacity for any New York company.
Trump’s lawyers have denounced the prosecution of Weisselberg, pointing to his advanced age. They argue that he is an innocent victim of the wide-ranging scrutiny of Trump.
With good behavior, Weisselberg’s sentence could be reduced to about 100 days. He will likely be jailed throughout Trump’s criminal trial, which Bragg’s prosecutors are also leading. Jury selection in that trial is set to begin Monday.
Weisselberg first came under scrutiny years ago, as the Manhattan district attorney’s office was ramping up its criminal investigation into Trump. His encyclopedic knowledge of the Trump Organization — he worked for the Trump family for nearly a half-century and helped run the company after Trump was elected president — made him a potentially valuable asset for prosecutors.
But Weisselberg refused to cooperate with prosecutors, establishing what would become a pattern of allegiance to Trump at the expense of his own freedom.
In 2022, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud and agreed to testify against the Trump Organization at its trial on the same charges, but stopped short of implicating Trump himself. The company was ultimately convicted of 17 counts of financial crime and Weisselberg was later sentenced to five months at Rikers Island, of which he served about 100 days.
And without his cooperation, prosecutors moved forward with an indictment of Trump. Last year, they charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sexual encounter that prosecutors say could have influenced the 2016 election.
Bragg’s office believed Weisselberg played a role in the nondisclosure agreement, but prosecutors now say that they will make their case without his help.