The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)

Former Trump CFO Allen Weisselber­g pleads guilty to perjury in ex-president’s civil fraud case

- By Jake Offenhartz

NEW YORK — Allen Weisselber­g, the former chief financial officer of Donald Trump's company, pleaded guilty Monday in New York to perjury in connection with testimony he gave in the ex-president's civil fraud case.

Weisselber­g, 76, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and will be sentenced to five months in jail — which would be his second stint behind bars after 100 days last year in an unrelated tax fraud case.

The pleas related to testimony he gave at a July 2020 deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James' case against

Trump, but in court Monday he also admitted, without pleading guilty, to lying on the witness stand at the former president's civil fraud trial last fall.

Prosecutor­s accused Weisselber­g of lying under oath in the case about allegation­s that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies.

“Allen Weisselber­g looks forward to putting this situation behind him,” his lawyer Seth Rosenberg said in a statement.

After The New York Times reported last month that Weisselber­g was in negotiatio­ns to plead guilty to perjury, Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial, ordered attorneys to provide details related to the Times' report.

Trump is appealing Engoron's judgment ordering him to pay more than $454 million in fines and interest for submitting fraudulent informatio­n about his asset values on years of financial records.

Weisselber­g's new criminal case comes just weeks before Trump is scheduled to stand trial on separate allegation­s that he falsified business records. That case involves allegation­s that Trump falsified company records to cover up hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegation­s that he had extramarit­al sexual encounters. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has said Weisselber­g had a role in orchestrat­ing the payments, but he has not been charged in that case, and neither prosecutor­s nor Trump's lawyers have indicated they will call him as a witness. That trial is scheduled to begin March 25.

Weisselber­g's case is separate from the criminal case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against Trump last year.

Weisselber­g previously served 100 days in jail last year after pleading guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in off-thebooks compensati­on from the Trump Organizati­on. He is still on probation. Prior to that he had no criminal record.

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