Ex-Trump CFO Weisselberg Pleads Guilty to Perjury

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Facts

  • Allen Weisselberg, the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Trump Organization, Monday agreed to plead guilty to two counts of perjury in state court in Manhattan in relation to former Pres. Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.1
  • Weisselberg, who was accused by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office of lying under oath during a May deposition and the October trial about Trump's financial statements, will be sentenced to five months in jail April 10.2
  • Currently, Trump is appealing the ruling in this case, which ordered him to pay a $450M judgment for having inflated and deflated the value of the company to receive favorable loans and insurance terms.3
  • In an unrelated case, Weisselberg in Aug. 2022 pleaded guilty to 15 criminal tax fraud charges over a scheme to receive compensation off the books. He was sentenced to five months in prison but was released early for good behavior in April 2023.4
  • Weisselberg's plea agreement in this case doesn't include language requiring him to testify in an upcoming criminal case in which Trump is being accused by Bragg's office of falsifying business documents to cover up payments made to Stormy Daniels.5
  • So far, neither side in that case has revealed whether it plans to call on testimony from Weisselberg.5

Sources: 1Associated Press, 2USA Today, 3CBS, 4Forbes and 5Washington Post.

Narratives

  • Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by New York Times. Perjury laws must be enforced or the entire justice system could fall apart. In this case, not only must Weisselberg be held accountable for his lies, but witnesses in future trials must see that they could pay a price if they decide to give false testimony. Weisselberg refused to provide information about the real target of this and other cases — Donald Trump.
  • Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by FOX News. The witch hunt orchestrated by the Biden administration continues with this forced plea from an elderly man who's already spent far too much time in jail for the crime of being associated with Trump. This is an authoritarian overreach of the justice system and it only reinforces the need for Trump to prevail in November so he and other innocent citizens won't continue to be persecuted.