Allen Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, appears for a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court on March 4, 2024 in New York.
Curtis means | Getty Images
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg will be sentenced Wednesday for lying under oath during Donald Trump’s civil trial on corporate fraud charges.
Weisselberg, 76, is expected to be sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty last month to two counts of first-degree perjury.
The conviction would put Weisselberg behind bars for the second time in two years because of his work for Trump’s company. He spent three months in jail at Rikers Island last year after pleading guilty to helping orchestrate a tax fraud scheme at the company.
Those charges, along with those for perjury, were brought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump for falsifying business records in a hush money scheme.
That case is scheduled to go to trial Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court. Weisselberg is not required to testify there. Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly attempted to delay the trial, including claiming that Weisselberg’s sentencing was deliberately scheduled close to the time of the trial in order to generate more negative media coverage against Trump.
New York appeals judges on Monday and Tuesday of this week rejected two other recent attempts by Trump’s lawyers to postpone the secret trial.
Weisselberg admitted on March 4 to lying during his testimony in the civil fraud lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump, his two adult sons, his company and its executives.
Weisselberg falsely testified that he was not focused on the details of Trump’s triplex apartment, which was valued at nearly three times its actual size in Trump’s financial statements.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty to two counts of lying about the size of that apartment during an investigative deposition in 2020, his plea agreement with prosecutors showed.
But he also admitted to engaging in conduct related to three other counts of perjury, centered on false statements Weisselberg made during a May 2023 deposition and during his trial testimony in October.
Trump was found guilty of fraudulently inflating the value of his properties and other assets on years of financial forms. Justice Arthur Engoron of Manhattan Supreme Court ordered Trump to pay a total of $454 million in fines and interest. Trump is appealing this verdict.
An attorney for Weisselberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment ahead of his sentencing.
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