(StraightNews.org) – Former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg has been jailed for perjury. Mr. Weisselberg was sent to New York’s Rikers Island prison for the second time after pleading guilty and agreeing a plea deal with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. Weisselberg lied under oath when he testified last year that the value of Donald Trump’s Manhattan Penthouse had not caught his attention, but email exchanges with Forbes magazine indicate that he knew the apartment was overvalued when he signed a financial statement in 2017.
New York Attorney General Letitia James initiated the civil case against Trump and his associates, saying he inflated the value of his real estate for investment purposes. At the center of the case against Weisselberg is the claim that Trump’s apartment measured 33,000 square feet, when it reality it is just over 10,000 square feet.
Following his testimony regarding the apartment, Forbes uncovered emails confirming that Weisselberg was aware of the actual value of the apartment and that he was present when Trump inflated the building’s value during a meeting with Forbes reporters in 2015. Alvin Bragg initiated perjury charges against Weisselberg when the revelations came to light.
During a brief appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on April 10, Weisselberg told Justice Laurie Peterson he had nothing further to say before being led away in handcuffs to start a five-month sentence at Rikers. His attorneys said the 76-year-old accepts responsibility for his actions and wants to get through his jail term and begin his retirement.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly accused Alvin Bragg and Letitia James of politically motivated witch hunts against him. He insists there were no victims in the civil fraud claim, “only happy banks.”
Letitia James has a history of making anti-Trump comments, and on the night of her election in 2018, she promised to pursue the former President. James launched the civil suit in 2022, and in February, Judge Arthur Engoron found him guilty and issued a $454 million fine.
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