Former Trump CFO Weisselberg to be sent to Rikers Island jail for 15-year tax scheme
Cami Mondeaux
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Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is expected to be sent to Rikers Island jail in New York after he received his sentence for his participation in operating a tax fraud scheme at the former president’s real estate company for 15 years.
Weisselberg is set to be sentenced on Tuesday afternoon in connection to the scheme after pleading guilty in August and admitting that he and several other company executives had received bonuses and other financial perks designed to save the company money. The former CFO is expected to be sentenced to five years in prison and be fined nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest.
Rikers Island is one of New York’s most well-known jails and has become notorious for violence and drug use, according to Reuters. Nineteen inmates died at the prison last year.
Weisselberg’s sentence comes one month after prosecutors and defense lawyers gave their closing arguments in the criminal tax fraud trial against the Trump Organization, wrapping up the yearslong investigation into the former president’s company and its financial dealings. The former CFO emerged as the prosecutor’s star witness after he testified that he had accepted illegal compensation for his own benefit and hid the payments from the company’s outside accountant. The former CFO continued this practice for years, ending it once Donald Trump was elected president and his company’s business practices came under new scrutiny.
Weisselberg’s testimony strengthened prosecutors’ accusations that the Trump Organization paid for the personal expenses of several company executives without reporting them as income. These payments included paying for the managers’ rent, car lease payments, and other expenses. Prosecutors also alleged the company partially paid these executives as independent contractors rather than company employees.
The Trump Organization pleaded not guilty, and defense lawyers sought to point the finger solely at Weisselberg.
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If found guilty on all nine counts, the company could be fined as much as $1.6 million. The charges would come as Trump is seeking a third White House bid, and the former president has denounced the trial as politically motivated.
The criminal trial is separate from another tax fraud investigation being conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has accused the Trump Organization of violating several state laws by manipulating its asset valuations. James filed that lawsuit in civil court in September, although it could take months to go through New York’s legal system before it reaches trial.