Alan Weiselberg, the former chief financial officer of former President Donald Trump's family real estate firm, pleaded guilty Monday to perjury charges stemming from his testimony during Trump's civil fraud trial.
Weiselberg “admitted conduct” on May 12, 2023, and October 10, 2023, to testifying under oath about the size of Trump's Fifth Avenue Manhattan triplex.
“You plead guilty because you're guilty?” a Manhattan judge asked Weiselberg during his court appearance Monday.
“Yes,” Weiselberg replied.
Weiselberg admitted to knowingly misleading investigators about his knowledge of the size of the Trump Tower triplex in order to obtain favorable loans, insurance rates and “other economic benefits,” according to Gary Fishman, who filed a perjury suit with the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
“Do you agree with all that?” asked the judge.
“Yes, your honor,” Weiselberg said.
Perjury is “tearing the very fabric of our justice system,” Fishman said.
Weiselberg, who turns 77 in August, will be sentenced on April 10 to five months in prison, the judge said. He was released on his own recognizance.
In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blamed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brock, saying Brock “engaged in a crusade of vindictive and oppressive pressure that led to Alan H. Weiselberg's forced plea today.” Innocent Americans cannot continue to be persecuted and we must save our country.
“Alvin Bragg continues to waste public resources in his tyrannical effort to prevent President Trump from ascending to the White House,” Trump attorney Christopher Kiss said in a statement, adding that “the impeachment has no place in our justice system.”
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA's office said, “It is a felony to lie in a deposition and at trial.” Alan Weiselberg took an oath to be truthful and later committed perjury both during the New York State Attorney General's investigation and trial, as well as during their recent trial. Today, Alan Weiselberg pleaded guilty and took responsibility. for his conduct.”
This is the second felony conviction for Weiselberg, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to evading taxes on nearly $2 million in compensation from the Trump Organization, including an apartment, a luxury car and school tuition for his grandchildren. He served three months of a five-month sentence at New York's Rikers Island prison.
As ABC News reported last month, Weiselberg, 75, negotiated a plea deal with the Manhattan district attorney's office to settle charges that she lied on the witness stand when she testified in a civil trial in October against two of Trump's adult children. Sons and another former Trump Organization executive were charged with fraud.
During his testimony, Weiselberg struggled to explain why Trump's Fifth Avenue Manhattan triplex, which is less than 11,000 square feet, was listed as 30,000 square feet on Trump's financial statements.
“It was almost negligible compared to his net worth, so I didn't really pay attention to it,” Weiselberg said during the hearing. “I never thought about the apartment.”
But Forbes magazine published an article following Weiselberg's appearance He accused her of lying under oath And Wieselberg thought about the apartment because he was instrumental in convincing the press that the apartment represented by Trump's financial statements was large.
At the hearing, Lewis Solomon, a lawyer from the New York Attorney General's Office, confronted the Forbes reporter with emails, a letter Weiselberg signed to clarify the size of the apartment, and a letter Weiselberg signed to the Trump Organization's accounting. The firm at the time was Mazars USA.
“Forbes is right, the triplex is really only 10,996 right?” Solomon asked.
“Okay,” Weiselberg finally agreed.
Weiselberg is not expected to be called as a witness in a criminal trial that begins later this month, accusing Trump of falsifying business records related to payments to adult film actress Stormi Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Trump is innocent and has denied all wrongdoing.
The Manhattan district attorney's office said in court filings: Weiselberg instructed then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen on how to pay Daniels, then arranged for Cohen to pay back in monthly installments.
