Allen Weisselberg, former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for his role in the company’s sweeping 15-year tax fraud scheme.
Weisselberg, 75, is expected to be sentenced to five months behind bars, in accordance with his guilty plea, when he appears before acting Justice Juan Merchan in New York criminal court. When taking into account the typical amount of time off for good behavior, Weisselberg is likely to serve about 100 days.
He also has to pay close to $2 million in taxes and penalties and will receive five years of probation.
As part of his deal with prosecutors, Weisselberg could have faced added time behind bars if he did not testify truthfully at trial, which ended with the Trump Organization being convicted of all counts.
There are no public court filings that suggest Weisselberg’s testimony was not truthful, and prosecutors have not asked the judge to revisit the agreed-upon jail sentence.
“His only obligation relating to the trial was that he testify truthfully, and clearly he did,” Weisselberg’s lawyer, Nicholas Gravante Jr., said after conviction.
Weisselberg was the star witness for the prosecution in the case against former President Donald Trump’s company, describing how top executives and the company evaded paying taxes they rightfully owed. Trump himself was not charged with any crimes.
The biggest personal beneficiary of the scheme, prosecutors said, was Weisselberg. He collected $1.76 million in “indirect employee compensation” through the scam, including a rent-free apartment, expensive cars, private school tuition for his grandchildren and new furniture. Other executives received similar perks and were paid bonuses as independent contractors, saving the company money in payroll taxes.
Weisselberg said on the witness stand that Trump didn’t know about the scheme.
Lawyers for the two Trump Organization subsidiaries charged in the case maintained during the trial that Weisselberg was the lone bad actor and the companies shouldn’t be held responsible. A jury disagreed.
The panel convicted the companies on all 17 counts last month, including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The companies are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, and face up to $1.6 million in fines.
Had Weisselberg been convicted at trial, he could have faced up to 15 years in prison.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, the judge will decide whether Weisselberg must go to jail that day or at a later date.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
