CNN
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The Trump Organization's former chief financial officer is in talks to potentially plead guilty to perjury charges related to a civil investigation into the real estate company's finances, people familiar with the matter said.
Former CFO Allen Weisselberg is in talks with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, but the talks are in the early stages and no deal has been finalized, the people said. One of the people said the charges are related to interviews Weisselberg gave at the New York attorney general's office and related testimony in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial last year.
There is a possibility that negotiations may break down without reaching an agreement.
If Mr. Weisselberg reaches an agreement to plead guilty, it would be the second plea from a former longtime aide to President Trump. Mr. Weisselberg pleaded guilty in 2022 to 15 criminal charges related to tax evasion and served 100 days at Rikers Island Prison in New York City. He testified in the criminal tax evasion trial of two Trump Organization entities for which he was convicted and fined.
As part of the deal currently being negotiated, Mr. Weisselberg is not cooperating with his former boss and will not be called as a witness in the criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin next month, the people said.
Trump was charged with 34 felonies for falsifying business records as part of a compensation plan to a former lawyer who made payments to dispel allegations of extramarital affairs before the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies having an affair and maintains his innocence. A number of Trump associates were called to testify before the grand jury, but Weisselberg was not one of them.
Mr. Weisselberg's attorney, Seth Rosenberg, could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment.
The New York Times first reported that Weisselberg was in talks with prosecutors to resolve the investigation.
The district attorney's office has been pressuring Weisselberg for months about possible charges related to insurance fraud and perjury.
It is not clear which statements Mr. Weisselberg agrees are false testimony. Mr. Weisselberg is also a defendant in a civil fraud lawsuit and was called as a witness by the New York Attorney General's Office last year to testify at trial. He was furious about how the Trump Organization's financial statements were constructed and how the value of Trump's assets was derived.
The New York Attorney General's Office is seeking more than $370 million from President Trump, along with a ban on doing business in the state. The judge is expected to announce his findings this month.
