NEW YORK — Allen Weisselberg, a retired executive in Donald Trump’s real estate empire, was sentenced Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in the civil fraud lawsuit brought against the former president by New York’s attorney general.
Weisselberg, 76, was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs following the sentencing, which lasted less than five minutes.
Asked if he wanted to address the court, Weisselberg, wearing a black windbreaker and a face mask, responded, “No, your honor.”
It is Weisselberg’s second time behind bars. The former Trump Organization chief financial officer served 100 days last year for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in company perks, including a rent-free Manhattan apartment and luxury cars.
Now, he’s again trading life as a Florida retiree for a stay at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex, though he’s also getting something in return.
When Weisselberg pleaded guilty last month to two counts of perjury, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made a legally binding promise not to prosecute him for any other crimes he might have committed in connection with his longtime employment by the Trump Organization.
Weisselberg’s plea agreement also does not require him to testify at Trump’s hush money criminal trial, which is scheduled to start with jury selection Monday.
“Allen Weisselberg accepted responsibility for his conduct and now looks forward to the end of this life-altering experience and to returning to his family and his retirement,” his attorney, Seth Rosenberg, said in a statement after the court hearing.
Prosecutors with Bragg’s office declined to address the court during the brief sentencing hearing. As part of his guilty plea, Weisselberg admitted lying when he testified he had little knowledge of how Trump’s Manhattan penthouse came to be valued on his financial statements at nearly three times its actual size.
The two cases highlighted Weisselberg’s unflinching loyalty to Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Trump’s family employed Weisselberg for nearly 50 years, then gave him a $2 million severance deal when the tax charges prompted him to retire. The company continues to pay his legal bills.
Weisselberg testified twice in trials that went badly for Trump, but each time he took pains to suggest that his boss hadn’t committed any serious wrongdoing.
In agreeing to a five-month sentence, prosecutors cited Weisselberg’s age and willingness to admit wrongdoing. In New York, perjury is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Weisselberg’s sentence mirrors his previous case, in which he was ordered to serve five months in jail but was eligible for release after little more than three months with good behavior. Prior to that, he had no criminal record.
Trump’s lawyers took issue with Weisselberg’s perjury prosecution.