Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Alan Weiselberg (C) arrives for sentencing in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 10, 2024 in New York City.
Kena Betancourt AFP | Good pictures
Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Alan Weiselberg was sentenced Wednesday to five months in prison for perjury during a civil business fraud investigation into Donald Trump.
Weiselberg declined to speak before a judge during a brief hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court. The 76-year-old former executive is expected to go directly to Rikers Island to begin serving his sentence on two counts of first-degree perjury.
This is the second time in two years that Weiselberg has been jailed for working for Trump's company. He served three months in Rikers last year after pleading guilty to helping to orchestrate a tax fraud scheme at the business.
The tax and perjury charges were brought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump on charges of falsifying business records as part of a hush money scheme.
The case goes to trial Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court. Weiselberg was not required to testify. Trump's attorneys have repeatedly tried to delay the trial, including by saying that Weiselberg's conviction was deliberately orchestrated next to it in order to spread more negative news against Trump.
New York appeals judges on Monday and Tuesday of this week rejected two recent attempts by Trump's lawyers to postpone the hush money trial.
Weiselberg admitted lying on March 4 during his testimony in a civil fraud trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump, his two-year-old sons, his business and its executives.
Weiselberg falsely testified that he did not pay attention to the details of Trump's triplex apartment, which Trump's financial statements listed as worth nearly three times its actual value.
Weiselberg pleaded guilty to two counts of lying about the size of the apartment during a 2020 hearing, his plea deal with prosecutors showed.
But he admitted to conduct related to false statements Weiselberg made in a May 2023 deposition and three additional counts of perjury in his trial testimony in October.
Trump has been held accountable for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties and other assets in financial forms over the years. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engron ordered Trump to pay a total of $454 million in penalties and interest. Trump is appealing the ruling.
An attorney for Weiselberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment ahead of his sentencing.
