Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges Thursday as part of a deal that will require him to testify about the financial practices of the Trump real-estate empire that he helped run.
The executive and the company of former president Donald Trump were charged in July of last year with a 15-year tax fraud scheme, and were accused of collecting more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, according to the Associated Press.
Weisselberg is “being used by the Manhattan District Attorney as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President,” the Trump Organization said in a statement in 2021. “The District Attorney is bringing a criminal prosecution involving employee benefits that neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing. This is not justice; this is politics.”
The most serious charge filed against Weisselberg, grand larceny, carried a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, according to the outlet. He pleaded guilty to 15 counts felonies Thursday, admitting that he conspired with the company in the tax scheme, but did not implicate the former president.
By pleading guilty, Weisselberg is expected to serve five months in jail and with good behavior, is expected to serve about 100 days, according to the New York Times, which cited anonymous sources.
He is not expected to implicate the Trump family, but by pleading guilty, may be leaving the company to face trial alone in October, the outlet reported.
“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 years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family,” his lawyer, Nicholas A. Gravante Jr., said after the trial, according to the New York Times. “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.”