One of former United States President Donald Trump's most trusted lieutenants, Allen H. Weisselberg, stood before a judge in a Lower Manhattan courtroom on Thursday and testified that he had conspired with the Republican businessman's company to commit crimes.
The guilty plea, which followed more than a year of the Manhattan district attorney's office pressuring him to cooperate in a broader investigation of Trump, painted a damning picture of the former president's company. The Trump Organization now faces significant financial penalties if it loses its own trial on similar charges.
Weisselberg's Guilty Plea
However, prosecutors who have long sought to indict Trump saw the Thursday hearing as something of a consolation prize. Weisselberg refused to turn on the former president himself, something prosecutors had hoped he would do since they charged him with 15 felonies last July.
Under the guilty plea deal, the former Trump official is required to pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest after accepting lavish off-the-books perks from the former president's company. This includes leased Mercedes-Benzes, an apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and private school tuition for his grandchildren, as per the New York Times.
Weisselberg is also required to point the finger at his longtime employer, the Trump Organization, at its trial in October. In exchange for the testimony, the official, who was facing years in prison, is likely to receive a five-month jail sentence, and with time credited for good behavior, he might serve as little as 100 days.
The plea deal emerged after several weeks of pitched back-and-forth negotiations that culminated in a crucial meeting on Monday. On Weisselberg's 75th birthday, his lawyers gathered with prosecutors in the judge's chambers, said people with knowledge of the matter.
According to the Washington Post, the 75-year-old acknowledged his part in the scenario outlined by prosecutors and agreed to testify, if called, at a pending trial for the company. The defendant spoke sparingly during the hearing, answering "yes" to affirm his activities and guilt on every count.
Indicting the Trump Organization
However, in his future testimony, he could prove damaging for the former president's namesake company, which prosecutors say carried out "a sweeping and audacious illegal payments scheme." Weisselberg's sentence depends on him "testifying truthfully" at the Trump Organization's trial.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that the plea agreement "directly implicates" the Trump Organization in a "wide range of criminal activity." He added, "Furthermore, thanks to the incredibly hard work and dedication of the team prosecuting this case, Weisselberg will spend time behind bars."
Trump and his allies have assailed the case, tying it to the thicket of other investigations and scrutiny that he routinely characterizes as a coordinated "witch hunt" by Democrats who dislike him.
The former president's company released a statement calling Weisselberg "a fine and honorable man who, for the past 4 years, has been harassed, persecuted, and threatened by law enforcement."
Judge Juan Merchan said that the former Trump Organization official will be sentenced after the company's trial. The judge warned that if Weisselberg does not meet all the conditions of the plea agreement, he would impose any lawful sentence on the defendant's case, CNN reported.
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