Donald Trump’s former finance chief Allen Weisselberg was jailed for five months on Wednesday for perjury after he admitted lying to prosecutors as they investigated the former president for fraudulently inflating his wealth.
Weisselberg, 76, was the chief financial officer of Trump’s real estate and entertainment group from 2005 to 2021. The jailing of Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury related to his 2020 questioning during the fraud probe, comes less than a week before Trump is due to go on trial for covering up hush money payments to hide a sex scandal.
In return for admitting that he lied when discussing Trump’s valuation of the mogul’s New York penthouse apartment, Weisselberg agreed with prosecutors to be sentenced to a lesser term of five months imprisonment.
The offences for which he was charged carried prison terms of up to seven years, according to the plea document. Prosecutors also agreed not to seek further charges against Weisselberg linked to his time at the Trump Organization.
On February 16, Trump was hit with a $355 million (about 6.3bn) penalty after being found liable for fraudulently manipulating the value of his properties to obtain favourable conditions on loans.
Trump could have to sell or mortgage properties to post collateral to cover the shattering penalty if his ongoing appeal against the ruling fails.
Cape Times