Trump Organization’s ex-CFO pleads guilty in tax evasion case

Allen Weisselberg, who served as the chief financial officer for former President Trump’s real estate company, pleaded guilty on Thursday to tax evasion as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty to the 15 charges he faced and will be sentenced to five months imprisonment as a result of his deal.

Multiple news outlets reported on Monday that Weisselberg was expected to plead guilty to charges he avoided paying almost $2 million in taxes over the course of more than a decade through indirect compensation from the Trump Organization and worked to enrich himself and the organization’s top executives without reporting the income.

Weisselberg was caught up in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation into the Trump Organization. The executive and the Trump Organization were charged with tax fraud simultaneously a year ago. Trump himself has not been charged with any crime.

Weisselberg’s plea deal does not include his cooperation with investigators in its Trump Organization investigation, but his admission of guilt could be a key piece of evidence in the trial against the company when it begins in October.

Thursday’s development came less than a week after a judge ruled that the district attorney’s case against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization could go to trial.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is pursuing a companion civil case investigating whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets to attract investors and subsequently deflated them for tax purposes.

Trump sat for a deposition last week in James’s probe but declined to answer any questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

–Updated at 12:26 p.m.

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