Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial and during the investigation that preceded it.
Weisselberg arrived at court not in a suit, but dressed for jail in jogging pants and a zip-up jacket.
“The promise is five months of incarceration,” Judge Laurie Peterson said.
“Mr. Weisselberg is there anything you’d like to say?” the judge asked.
“No your honor,” Weisselberg replied before court officers handcuffed him and took him into custody.
Weisselberg pleaded guilty last month to two felony counts of perjury the charged him with lying under oath.
Prosecutors said Weisselberg lied about his role in valuing Trump’s Fifth Avenue triplex apartment at three times its actual size.
Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg arrives for sentencing at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 10, 2024, in New York City.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
In recent days, defense lawyers for Trump and his adult sons have attempted to recast Weisselberg’s guilty plea as an act of legal coercion, rather than an acknowledgement of wrongdoing.
“To be clear, counsel for Defendants have no “knowledge” that Mr. Weisselberg made false statements during the trial; to the contrary, many believe that Mr. Weisselberg only made such admissions because he was being threatened with life in prison,” defense lawyer Clifford Robert added in a footnote of a filing earlier this week.
New York Judge Arthur Engoron in February ordered Trump to pay $464 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest after he found the former president and his adult sons liable for using “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate his net worth in order to get more favorable loan terms.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has appealed the decision in the case.