NEW YORK — The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s civil fraud case — set to issue a potentially earth-shattering verdict against him any day — wants to know if it’s true that the former president’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, is preparing to admit he lied on the stand.
In an email included in court documents filed Tuesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron cited a story first reported by The New York Times last week claiming that the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer is in talks with the Manhattan district attorney to plead guilty to perjuring himself at the New York attorney general’s civil fraud trial.
Trump’s low-profile money man, who served as the family’s financial sentry for almost a half-century and is accused alongside him and three others in the AG case, testified during the trial that the value of Trump’s triplex on Fifth Ave. was not his concern as CFO. For years, Trump and his execs recorded it as three times its actual size — illegally bloating its value — as they sought lucrative loan terms, the judge found before the trial started.
Weisselberg’s testimony came to a halt when the AG notified the court of potential omissions following a bombshell Forbes report claiming he was lying, which cited a “review of old emails and notes, some of which the attorney general’s office does not possess, [showing] that Weisselberg absolutely thought about Trump’s apartment — and played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over the course of several years that it was worth more than it really was.”
Engoron, in his Monday email, asked the parties to expand on The Times report, which said District Attorney Alvin Bragg was negotiating a new guilty plea with the ex-CFO, months after the perjury allegations.
“[…] I of course want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune, and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial. Although the Times article focuses on the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, his testimony on other topics could also be called into question,” Engoron wrote.
“As the article notes ‘perjury — particularly in a high-profile trial — undermines the broader ends of justice and cannot be ignored.’ I do not want to ignore anything in a case of this magnitude.”
Engoron told Trump’s lawyers and attorneys at the AG’s office to apprise him by 5 p.m. today of “anything you know about this” and how he should address it ahead of his pending verdict on six claims against Trump, Weisselberg, former Trump Org controller Jeff McConney, and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr.
Engoron is set to decide whether Trump and his crew are liable for multiple conspiracy counts, insurance fraud, and other offenses.