Trump executive Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months for tax fraud | Donald Trump news

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The executives’ testimony led to charges against the Trump Organization, although he said Trump was unaware of wrongdoing.

Longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison for tax fraud and jailed in New York City.

The Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer gave testimony that helped convict the company in 2022 of tax fraud in a Manhattan court. But Weisselberg maintained that neither the company’s namesake, former President Donald Trump, nor his family knew about the scheme while it was happening.

On Tuesday, Weisselberg was handcuffed and taken into custody shortly after the verdict was announced. He is expected to be taken to New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

Weisselbergs’ five-month sentence was previously discussed in August when he agreed to plead guilty to 15 tax crimes and testify against the company. He faces up to 15 years in prison without a plea deal.

As part of the plea agreement, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan also ordered Weisselberg to pay nearly $2m in taxes, penalties and interest. Weisselberg will also have to complete five years of probation after completing his prison term.

Weisselbergs three days of testimony in the trial against the Trump Organization offered a glimpse into the inner workings of Trumps real estate empire.

Weisselberg worked for the Trump family for nearly 50 years, starting as an accountant for the president’s former developer father, Fred Trump, in 1973. He later joined Donald Trump in 1986, helping to expand the company’s focus beyond New York City as it became a global golf and hotel brand.

During his testimony, Weisselberg said he betrayed the Trump family by conspiring with a subordinate to keep more than a decade’s worth of extras from being part of his taxable income. Those perks include a free apartment in Manhattan, luxury cars and his grandchildren’s private school tuition.

Weisselberg said the pair doctored payroll records and issued false W-2 forms to conceal expenses.

Despite the charges, Weisselberg remained close to the Trump Organization, remaining on its payroll and receiving holiday bonuses. He even celebrated his 75th birthday at Trump Tower with cake and colleagues in August, just hours after finalizing the plea agreement that prompted his transformation from loyal executive to prosecution witness.

A Manhattan jury ultimately convicted the Trump Organization in December. Weisselberg was found to be a high management agent who was entrusted to act on behalf of the company and its various entities while he committed his wrongdoings.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors also alleged that Trump knew what was going on at the company and that evidence, including a lease signed by Trump for the Weisselbergs’ apartment, was made clear that Mr Trump had authorized it. tax fraud.

The Trump Organization is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday and faces a fine of up to $1.6m.

But while Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is still investigating the president’s past business practices, Weisselberg is the only individual charged in the Trump Organization investigation to date.

The executive also remains a defendant in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million civil lawsuit alleging Trump and his company inflated the Trumps’ asset values ​​and net worth.

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