According to two people familiar with the situation, Donald Trump’s longtime top executive at the family business, Allen H. Weisselberg, is close to a plea deal with prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office but would not cooperate with a broader investigation into Trump. Weisselberg was indicted on tax charges last summer.
If his plea deal goes through, it will make one of the former president’s closest aides a felon, but it won’t move the needle on whether or not the president should be indicted.
A court database shows that on Monday, representatives for both Weisselberg and the prosecution met with the presiding judge. The judge has set a hearing for this coming Thursday in the Weisselberg case, which may indicate that a bargain has been reached and a plea will be entered then.
Weisselberg, 75, faces financial fines and years in prison if found guilty at trial, but a plea deal would eliminate the need for a public trial and, therefore, possibly spare him a lengthy sentence. According to one source familiar with the case, Weisselberg’s projected sentence of five months in prison is a surprising turn of events.
Attorney General Letitia James questioned Mr. Trump
In a related civil probe, New York Attorney General Letitia James questioned Mr. Trump last week about charges that his company had misled lenders and tax officials about the worth of its assets. Mr. Trump used his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment more than four hundred times.
We will hammer down on anyone who steals from the public for personal advantage because no one is above the law,” Ms. James, whose investigation unearthed the evidence that led to Mr. Weisselberg’s allegations, said in a statement.
Company officials indicated Friday that they had done nothing illegal, would not be pleading guilty, and were looking forward to “having our day in court” in light of Weisselberg’s guilty plea the previous day.
Last Words
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been looking into the corporation for quite some time, and so far the only individual to face criminal charges is Weisselberg, who is widely regarded as one of Trump’s most faithful business associates. Weisselberg first joined the Trump Organization under Fred Trump’s leadership in 1973. Due to his imprisonment in July of 2021, the firm demoted him from CFO to senior adviser. There has been no candidate found for the chief financial officer role.
