The New York Times is out with a bombshell, breaking news development on the case against the Trump Organization’s longtime ex-Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisellberg, who was officially indicted on charges of tax fraud in relation to his actions within the former president’s family company last summer.
According to the Times, Weisselberg is finally nearing a plea deal with prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office who have been investigating the ex-President’s business for some time now. However, the former longtime CFO, who hails from way back in the days of Fred Trump, has made it crystal clear that he absolutely refuses to cooperate with the district attorney’s office’s ongoing investigation into his old boss, former President Donald Trump, according to two sources cited by the publication with insider knowledge on the matter.
The Times notes, “His plea deal, if finalized, would bring prosecutors no closer to indicting the former president but would nonetheless brand one of his most trusted lieutenants a felon.”
The bombshell report reads:
On Monday, Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers and prosecutors met with the judge overseeing the case, according to a court database. The judge scheduled a hearing for Thursday in Mr. Weisselberg’s case, a possible indication that a deal has been reached and a plea could be entered then.
While Mr. Weisselberg, 75, is facing financial penalties as well as years in prison if convicted at trial, a plea deal would scrap a high-profile trial and most likely would spare him from a lengthy sentence. One person with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Weisselberg was expected to receive a five-month prison sentence, an unexpectedly favorable outcome for him.
The other terms of Mr. Weisselberg’s deal were not clear, and his lawyer, Nicholas A. Gravante Jr., confirmed that he was in discussions with prosecutors, but declined to discuss the specifics. Another lawyer for Mr. Weisselberg, Mary E. Mulligan, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg.
The district attorney’s long-running criminal investigation continued after Mr. Weisselberg was charged with taking part in a 15-year scheme to receive off-the-books perks at Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, which was also indicted in the case.”
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It’s been no well-kept secret that prosecutors have been more than hopeful that they could persuade Weisselberg to flip on Donald Trump, due to his literal decades of employment inside the Trump Organization, his knowledge of the inner workings of the company, and its underlying business practices. However, despite a meeting between prosecutors and Weisselberg’s legal team to strike a potential deal, the former longtime CFO has vehemently refused to cooperate in that regard.
And from the sounds of it, Donald Trump better thank his lucky stars.
Read the full, bombshell report from the New York Times here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
