NEW YORK — The Trump Organization’s long-serving financial gatekeeper pleaded guilty to 15 felonies Thursday and directly implicated former President Donald Trump’s family real estate business in a multiyear criminal tax fraud scheme.
Allen Weisselberg admitted to receiving more than $1.7 million in off-the-books perks while chief financial officer of the Trump Organization on top of his hefty salary, defrauding the taxpayer and Uncle Sam by disguising the fringe benefits as work expenses.
As part of his plea deal, the CFO, whose June 2021 indictment came after he refused to flip on Trump, will have to testify against the family’s real estate business when it goes on trial for a host of financial crimes this fall.
If prosecutors and the court are satisfied with Weisselberg’s testimony, he’ll be sentenced to five months max on Rikers Island and five years of probation, said state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
“(If) you fail to testify truthfully at the upcoming trial of the Trump Organization, or if you fail to fully repay the taxes due ... those will be considered violations of the plea agreement,” Merchan warned.
“I would then not be bound by my sentence promise,” the judge continued. “I would be at liberty to impose any lawful sentence, which again, in your case, would include imprisonment up to five to 15 years.”
The judge also ordered Weisselberg to cough up nearly $2 million in restitution and fines and withdraw all defense motions filed on his behalf and waive any appeals.
“In one of the most difficult decisions of his life, Mr. Weisselberg decided to enter a plea of guilty today to put an end to this case and the yearslong legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family,” his lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, said. “Rather than risk the possibility of 15 years in prison, he has agreed to serve 100 days. We are glad to have this behind him.”
The scheme that Weisselberg admitted to lasted from 2005 through 2021. For most of that time — through 2017 — Trump was president and owner of the company. Trump has not been charged in the case, which stems from the district attorney’s ongoing, broader probe into his business dealings.
Weisselberg’s plea deal doesn’t require he cooperate with prosecutors investigating the former president or his eponymous family business. Still, his guilty plea and testimony could have devastating consequences for the Trump companies that were indicted alongside him.
“Instead of paying his fair share like everyone else, Weisselberg had the Trump Organization provide him with a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture – all without paying required taxes,” said Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
“This plea agreement directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial against the corporation.”
A Trump Organization representative said the company is blameless.
“Allen Weisselberg, a long-time, trusted employee of The Trump Organization, is a fine and honorable man who, for the past four years, has been harassed, persecuted, and threatened by law enforcement, particularly the Manhattan district attorney, in their never-ending, politically motivated quest to get President Trump,” the company said in a statement.
“(We) now look forward to having our day in court, which, quite interestingly, has been scheduled for Oct. 24 — just days before the midterm elections.”
State Attorney General Letitia James applauded the guilty plea. Her office has conducted a yearslong civil probe into whether Trump and company executives fraudulently inflated the value of company assets such as skyscrapers and golf courses.
The AG personally deposed Trump in the investigation.
“For years, Mr. Weisselberg broke the law to line his own pockets and fund a lavish lifestyle,” said James. “Let this guilty plea send a loud and clear message: We will crack down on anyone who steals from the public for personal gain because no one is above the law.”
Originally from the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, Weisselberg, who once appeared on “The Apprentice,” for years commuted to Trump Tower from his modest one-story home in Wantagh, Long Island.
He was hired by Fred Trump as a bookkeeper in 1973 and started working full time for his son, Donald, around 1986, helping with ground leases in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and accounting for the Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan.
Weisselberg shared those details and more about slowly and steadily rising to become company CFO on a salary of around $450,000 during a 2015 deposition tied to the now defunct Trump University.
The trusted company man described himself as a “stickler” for details who didn’t take vacations and worked on the same floor as his boss in Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan.
“Am I his eyes and ears for his investments?” Weisselberg said of Trump. “From an economic standpoint.”
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