by Allen H. Weisselberg, Donald J. Trump’s former lieutenant, is negotiating a deal with Manhattan prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to perjury, people with knowledge of the matter said.
As part of the possible deal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Weisselberg would have to admit that he lied on the witness stand in Trump’s recent civil fraud trial, the people said.
Weisselberg, the former CFO of Trump’s family business, would also have to say he lied under oath during an interview with the New York attorney general’s office, which brought the civil fraud case.
The situation arises from a web of criminal and civil cases brought by the two agencies and would cap a long pressure campaign by District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, whose prosecutors had sought Weisselberg’s cooperation while investigating whether Trump committed electioneering. . and financial crimes. Even without Weisselberg’s cooperation, they indicted Trump last year in the election-related case, which is scheduled for trial in late March.
The deal being negotiated most likely will not require Weisselberg, 76, to turn on his former boss. Although Weisselberg was involved in the central action in that case — a hush payment intended to bury a potential sex scandal just before the 2016 election — prosecutors are not expected to call him as a witness. And the investigation that most required Weisselberg’s help, the district attorney’s investigation into Trump’s finances, may no longer be a priority for prosecutors.
Although the potential deal is unlikely to immediately affect Trump, it could strengthen Bragg’s position ahead of the former president’s trial. He could dissuade other witnesses in Trump’s circle from taking the stand. And the perjury charges could discredit Weisselberg, who has questioned the details of the prosecution’s evidence in the case related to the 2016 election.
But Weisselberg, a fiercely loyal aide who for decades oversaw the finances of Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, already had a credibility problem: It will be his second guilty plea in Manhattan in two years.
Weisselberg previously admitted that he orchestrated a scheme to grant himself and other Trump Organization executives unrecorded luxuries. He was incarcerated at Rikers Island for about 100 days and, while he was there, the district attorney’s office warned him that he could file new charges.
Bragg’s office renewed that threat after the fraud trial last month, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. That set plea negotiations in motion. If the two sides cannot agree, the district attorney’s office could try to charge Mr. Weisselberg.
Prosecutors often argue that perjury – particularly in a high-profile trial – undermines the broader ends of justice and cannot be ignored.
But Trump’s legal team has denounced what it sees as an overzealous prosecution in the service of a broader persecution of Trump, and has argued that it would be unfair to send Weisselberg, a septuagenarian with no violent history, to prison for a second time.
Weisselberg’s attorney, Seth Rosenberg, declined to comment through a spokesman for his firm, Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder. A lawyer for Trump also declined to comment, but the former president previously accused Bragg, a Democrat, of carrying out a politically motivated witch hunt against him and Weisselberg.
A spokeswoman for Bragg declined to comment.
It is not yet clear whether, if the deal goes through, Weisselberg would plead guilty to a felony or misdemeanor, or what his sentence might be.
It is also unclear which of Mr. Weisselberg’s statements in the civil fraud case caught the attention of prosecutors, but trial transcripts offer clues.
In 2022, Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, his adult children and Weisselberg, accusing them of fraudulently exaggerating the value of the former president’s assets to obtain favorable loans from banks. One of those assets was Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower, which is 10,996 square feet but for years was listed on his annual financial statements as having an area of 30,000 square feet.
While testifying, Mr. Weisselberg stated that he “never focused” on the unit.
Shortly after, Forbes magazine published an article. alleging that Mr. Weisselberg had lied under oath. The article cited emails and notes between the former CFO and the magazine, which compiles a list of the richest people in America, and showed that Weisselberg “played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over several years “from the convenience of the apartment. worth.
After that article was published, Mr. Weisselberg abruptly stopped testifying.
Weisselberg was also questioned under oath in 2020 about the triplex during an interview with James’ office, statements that could now also come under scrutiny by the district attorney’s office.
A guilty plea would cap a legal odyssey for Weisselberg. After decades of serving the Trump family out of the public eye, his life was turned upside down in the summer of 2021, when Bragg’s predecessor filed criminal charges against him and the Trump Organization for a tax fraud scheme involving lavish benefits. .
In August 2022, Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Trump’s company. After the Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and other crimes that year, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that Weisselberg had testified truthfully as required by the agreement.
But none of Weisselberg’s testimony had personally harmed Trump. In fact, Weisselberg never provided evidence implicating the former president in any case.
Weisselberg went to jail in early 2023, but not before Trump’s company awarded him a $2 million severance package that required him not to cooperate with any police investigations unless legally required.
In April, while Weisselberg was at Rikers Island, Bragg announced criminal charges against Trump stemming from what prosecutors say was the cover-up of the sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Bragg’s prosecutors also renewed their pressure campaign while Weisselberg was behind bars. They offered him a way out: cooperate with the district attorney’s office against Trump and avoid further prison sentences. Mr. Weisselberg remained motionless.
