Weisselberg Perjury: Felony Conviction for Lying Under Oath During Civil Fraud Trial
Tier 1Resolved2023-10-01 to 2024-04-10
Factual Summary
Allen Weisselberg, the longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty on March 4, 2024 to two felony counts of perjury in the first degree for lying under oath during the New York civil fraud trial presided over by Justice Arthur Engoron. The perjury charges arose from testimony Weisselberg gave on October 12 and 13, 2023, during People v. Trump, in which he provided false statements about the size of Donald Trump's Trump Tower penthouse apartment.
The central false claim involved Weisselberg's testimony that the Trump Tower penthouse measured approximately 30,000 square feet. The actual size of the apartment, as documented in city property records and established at trial, was 10,996 square feet. The inflated square footage figure had been used in Trump's financial statements to dramatically overvalue the property. Prosecutors established that Weisselberg knew the correct square footage and testified falsely to minimize the evidentiary impact of the discrepancy on the civil fraud case. In his guilty plea, Weisselberg admitted under oath that he had lied during the October 2023 testimony.
Justice Engoron, who presided over both the civil fraud trial and the perjury proceedings, described Weisselberg's testimony during the fraud trial as "intentionally evasive" and "highly unreliable." These characterizations appeared in Engoron's February 16, 2024 civil fraud ruling, which was issued before the perjury guilty plea but after the testimony in question.
On April 10, 2024, Weisselberg was sentenced to a second five-month jail term. Weisselberg did not agree to cooperate against Donald Trump in connection with the perjury plea. He served time at Rikers Island.
The perjury conviction was the second time Weisselberg had pleaded guilty to felony charges arising from his service at the Trump Organization. His earlier guilty plea in the criminal tax fraud case, documented in CRIM-002, involved 15 felony counts and resulted in his first five-month sentence. In that proceeding, Weisselberg's cooperation was limited to his personal admission of guilt and did not extend to testimony implicating Trump family members.
Primary Sources
1. Manhattan DA Press Release, "D.A. Bragg: Allen Weisselberg Pleads Guilty to Perjury," March 4, 2024: https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-allen-weisselberg-pleads-guilty-to-perjury/
2. Decision and Order, People v. Trump, Index No. 452564/2022 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Feb. 16, 2024), describing Weisselberg testimony as "intentionally evasive": https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2024/attorney-general-james-wins-landmark-victory-case-against-donald-trump
3. New York Penal Law Section 210.15 (Perjury in the First Degree), governing the applicable felony charges
Corroborating Sources
1. NPR: "Trump Organization's ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury in civil fraud case," March 4, 2024: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1235757063/weisselberg-perjury-plea-trump-fraud-case
2. CNN: "Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury charges stemming from Trump civil fraud trial," March 4, 2024: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/politics/allen-weisselberg-perjury-plea/index.html
3. New York Times: "Weisselberg Pleads Guilty to Perjury in Trump Civil Fraud Trial," March 4, 2024
4. Washington Post: "Trump's ex-CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to lying under oath," March 4, 2024
5. Reuters: "Ex-Trump Organization CFO sentenced to second jail term for perjury," April 10, 2024
Counterarguments and Context
Weisselberg's legal team did not offer a public defense of the substance of his trial testimony after the guilty plea. Prior to the plea, defense attorneys had argued during the civil fraud trial that Weisselberg's testimony reflected a good-faith recollection of figures he had encountered across many years of property management rather than deliberate deception. The guilty plea foreclosed that argument. Weisselberg's decision not to cooperate against Trump was a condition he sought in the plea negotiations, and the Manhattan DA's office accepted the plea without requiring cooperation. Trump and his representatives characterized the entire civil fraud proceeding, including the perjury charges, as a politically motivated effort by the Democratic-aligned attorney general's office.
The perjury conviction does not constitute a finding that Trump directed Weisselberg to lie. No such charge was brought, and Weisselberg's guilty plea did not include an admission that Trump instructed his false testimony.
Author's Note
This entry documents the perjury conviction arising specifically from Weisselberg's false testimony during the civil fraud trial. The underlying civil fraud trial is documented under FRAUD-001. The earlier criminal tax fraud case, in which Weisselberg also pleaded guilty, is documented under CRIM-002. This entry is classified as Tier 1 because the conduct resulted in a felony guilty plea and a judicial sentence, constituting full legal resolution of the perjury charges.