(DCWatchdog.com) – Allen Weisselberg, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, has been sentenced to five months in jail for tax evasion.
The former high-ranking official of President Donald Trump’s business empire was found guilty of evading taxes on $1.7 million worth of company perks.
Weissberg’s tax evasion was “driven purely by greed,” according to the Manhattan Supreme Court judge who sentenced him on Tuesday, The New York Post reported.
In August, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to tax fraud and testified against the Trump Organization.
In one example of his tax dodging, the then-CFO failed to report $200,000 in off-the-books compensation. That featured a luxury Manhattan apartment, two leases of Mercedes Benz cars, parking, utilities, furniture, and private school tuition for his grandchildren, the National Review reported.
The former CFO will be jailed in the North Infirmary Command on New Jersey’s Rikers Island. The exact section housed former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and rappers Tupac Shakur and Lil Wayne.
According to the report, with good behavior, Weisselberg could be set free in 100 days or fewer, after which he would serve five years of probation.
The 75-year-old former Trump Org CFO was prepared for his life in prison by consultant Craig Rothheld, the founder of prison advisory firm Inside Outside Ltd.
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan turned down the defense’s request that Weisselberg is granted a more lenient sentence, as his “public shaming” and advanced age should be considered towards his sentence.
“At a time when so many Americans work so hard in the hopes of they’ll one day benefit from Social Security, your client found a way to give his wife a $6,000 payroll payment so that she could contribute to Social Security so that she could one day receive the benefits to which she was not entitled,” Merchan responded to defense lawyer Nicholas Gravante.
“Each month makes a big difference when you’re 75 years old. He has already been punished tremendously by the disgrace he has brought not only on himself but on his wife, on his two sons, and on his four grandchildren,” Gravante argued.
Weisselberg himself addressed the court in an emotional voice.
“I think the words expressed by Mr. Gravante expressed my thoughts and my feelings. It has been difficult,” he said.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger made clear her satisfaction with Weisselberg’s “truthful testimony” against his former company. Moreover, she told the court he had “satisfied the conditions of his plea agreement.”
The Trump Organization is set to be sentenced on Friday after Weisselberg’s testimony during the trial in the fall led to its conviction of 17 counts of “tax fraud, falsifying business records, conspiracy,” and other crimes.
Former US President Donald Trump has denounced the investigation into his real estate company as a “political witch hunt” led by Manhattan’s Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Ex-Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg sent to Rikers Island for tax fraud https://t.co/gtrpxdsLHv pic.twitter.com/LAjbkUdKbC
— New York Post (@nypost) January 10, 2023
