Allen Weisselberg—Longtime Trump Organization CFO—Pleads Guilty In Tax Scheme

Topline

Allen Weisselberg, a longtime Trump Organization CFO, pleaded guilty to 15 criminal tax fraud charges Thursday—admitting to conspiring in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on corporate benefits—marking a blow to the former president’s family business as it prepares for trial on related charges in October.

Key Facts

Weisselberg, who was indicted on tax fraud charges last summer, is charged with grand larceny and avoiding tax payments on more than $1.7 million in corporate benefits from the Trump Organization over the 16-year scheme, including car payments, school tuition and rent.

Under the plea deal, Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years behind bars for grand larceny under New York state law, now faces five months in prison, and is likely to serve as little as 100 days for good behavior, the New York Times reported (the grand larceny charge carries no mandatory minimum under state law).

Donald Trump is not charged in the criminal investigation or accused of any wrongdoing.

Weisselberg, who previously pleaded not guilty, also agreed in the plea deal to testify on his role in the corporate benefits scheme at trial in October—the first case out of a two-year investigation into the former president’s business—but refused to implicate Trump or his family, taking jail time rather than calling out the family he’s worked with for nearly 50 years and potentially delivering a blow to prosecutors who saw Weisselberg as their key cooperator into the Trump Organization’s business practices.

Chief Critic

In a statement to Forbes, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization accused law enforcement and the Manhattan District Attorney of having “harassed, persecuted and threatened” Weisselberg as part of a “never-ending, politically-motivated quest to get President Trump,” and said that he decided to plead guilty “to put this matter behind him and get on with his life.”

Key Background

Weisselberg, 75, got his start with the Trump family working for the former president’s father, Fred Trump, in 1973. He was charged, along with the company, with tax fraud, by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office last summer. Trump and Weisselberg have called the investigation “politically motivated,” and in February requested a judge dismiss the criminal charges. Their request was denied. In July, Weisselberg and his lawyer surrendered to New York authorities at a courthouse in Manhattan, the New York Times reported.

Tangent

The plea deal comes less than a week after Trump pleaded the Fifth Amendment in a separate civil investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James into allegations he inflated the value of his golf clubs and hotels. Trump said his reason came down to the FBI’s raid on his Mar-A-Lago estate earlier this month. Although the raid—for White House documents—had nothing to do with the New York investigation, Trump said in a post on his social media network Truth Social that it gave him “no choice” but to plead the Fifth, calling the investigation a “vindictive and self-serving fishing expedition.”

Further Reading

Allen Weisselberg, a Top Trump Executive, to Plead Guilty in Tax Scheme (New York Times)

Trump CFO’s plea deal could make him a prosecution witness (Associated Press)

Criminal Case Against Trump Organization And Former CFO Can Move Forward, Judge Rules (Forbes)