Allen Weisselberg, who served as the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, has reportedly reached a plea deal in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal tax fraud investigation into the Trump Organization.
CBS News reported on Tuesday that Weisselberg had clinched the deal, a day after the New York Times first reported that the ex-CFO was nearing an agreement with prosecutors, and planned to plead guilty to a years-long tax fraud scheme – for which the Trump Organization was indicted as well.
However, the Trump Organization is not expected to take a plea deal like the former executive, and the case is expected to move forward to trial with jury selection in October.
CBS News also confirmed other reports that Weisselberg is expected to be handed a five-month prison sentence as part of the agreement.
However, Weisselberg, having stubbornly resisted prosecutors’ efforts to get him to flip on ex-President Donald Trump all throughout the criminal case, will reportedly not cooperate with the Manhattan DA’s investigation into the former president.
Therefore, Weisselberg’s guilty plea (which he’s likely to enter on Thursday, though the timing hasn’t been confirmed) isn’t expected to expose alleged wrongdoing by Trump or members of his family, according to the Times.
(not worthy of being first).
5 months seems very light. I won’t say the fix is in, but I’m sad.
Maybe not, but depending on what Weisselberg pleads to, and what he’s willing to testify to with respect to the Trump Organization, it’ll be really hard for the Organization to escape liability, and that could possibly put it out of business, which will impact Trump and the familia.
You legal people out there: I understand all the words in this article, but I don’t understand the “Why?” The (expected) sentence seems lenient to me, which makes me wonder if Weisselberg has been useful to the prosecution in ways that aren’t public. Is that possible, or is this an instance of the prosecution saying, in effect, “This is as good as we can get and still have this guy cool his heels in jail for a little while”?
Five months for, what, 40 years of cooking the books? Sickening. The chasm between rich and poor is never larger - and more clear - than when it comes to crime and punishment.
I hope those months are hard time served in some place like Rikers.