Allen Weisselberg of Trump’s Organization pleads guilty to tax crimes

Updated on August 20, 2022 12:22 PM by Sally Harbor

The long-time financial chief of Donald Trump’s company has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion charges at a New York court.

Allen Weisselberg and his heinous crimes

Allen Weisselberg served as The Trump Organization’s financial officer and had been charged for concealing more than $1.7m in off-the-books income.

He is expected to be sentenced to five months at the Rikers Island jail and must pay back the owed money. Donald Trump, the former president of the USA, is not accused of wrongdoing and has described the Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation into his family's real estate company as a ‘witch hunt.’

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The case relates to a 15-year scheme that prosecutors said helped executives at The Trump Organization avoid paying taxes on corporate benefits such as rent, luxury car payments, and private school fees.

The inquiry focused on whether the accused and other executives received these benefits without reporting them properly on their tax returns.

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And at the plea hearing on Thursday, Allen Weisselberg finally admitted his involvement in the scheme. Also, he admitted receiving private school tuition for his grandchildren, BMW cars, and a home in Manhattan.

"He decided to enter a plea of guilty today to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused him and his family," his lawyer said shortly after.

Not the most loyal but the most disloyal of them all

Weisselberg worked for the previous president for almost 50 years and is regarded as one of Mr. Trump's most dependable business partners. When he was detained last year, he resigned from his chief financial officer position, which he had held since 2005.

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The Trump Organization is a defendant whose attorneys have pleaded not guilty in this case. Weisselberg accepted a plea deal, reported a source, and will now be required to testify against the firm at a criminal trial later this year.

But he refused to cooperate with prosecutors in their wider investigation into Donald Trump and his business practices. That means any testimony he provides at the trial - scheduled for late October - will only relate to this case and will not implicate the former president directly.

Also read: Former CFO of Trump Organization pleads guilty for his role in the tax fraud scheme and agrees to testify against the company.

Weisselberg had faced intense pressure from prosecutors to cooperate against Mr. Trump, the source reported but resisted and accepted jail time instead.

He will be sentenced at the end of The Trump Organization trial, Judge Juan Merchan said on Thursday. But he could be freed from a likely five-month sentence after 100 days if time is credited for good behavior, some sources told US media.

The punishment is far shorter than the many years in state prison he could have faced if, rather than plead guilty, he was convicted at trial.

Also read: Trump Organisation CFO Weisselberg pleads guilty in tax evasion case.

Weisselberg's guilty plea, which legal experts suggest will strengthen the case against The Trump Organization, comes as Mr. Trump has also been investigated on several fronts.

Mr. Trump, who denies wrongdoing, had sued to block the interview at the attorney general's office. But the questioning lasted around four hours, and Mr. Trump - who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, gave the same answer throughout.

"This is unlikely to have any real impact on Trump personally," Joseph Moreno, a former federal prosecutor, told the source. "Weisselberg is obligated to testify against the Trump Organization if called, so that could lead to trouble, but if anything is probably civil not criminal."

There are also separate investigations into the former president's classified documents, which led the FBI to search his property in Florida and all the other houses and people related to his efforts to undermine the result of the 2020 presidential election.