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Trump CFO Expected to Plead Guilty to Criminal Tax Charges

Trump CFO Expected to Plead Guilty to Criminal Tax Charges

Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty to criminal tax charges in New York as early as Thursday, August 18.

Late last week, it was announced that Weisselberg's trial would begin in Manhattan on October 24 after a motion for dismissal of the charges was denied. 

Bloomberg shared details:

Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were charged last year with conspiring to avoid income taxes by paying certain employees in unreported perks. Weisselberg, 74, was allegedly the main beneficiary of the scheme, receiving benefits including a free Manhattan luxury apartment and Mercedes-Benz cars for both him and his wife.

The sophisticated scheme allegedly went on for about 15 years of Weisselberg's tenure with former President Donald Trump's businesses. 

Now, the Associated Press confirms that the ex-CFO is expected to take a plea deal offered by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office:

Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office and Weisselberg's lawyers met Monday with the judge overseeing the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, according to court records. The judge then scheduled a hearing in the matter for 9 a.m. Thursday but did not specify the reason.

The people who spoke to the AP did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. They said the purpose of Thursday's hearing was for Weisselberg to enter a guilty plea, but cautioned that plea deals sometimes fall apart before they are finalized in court.

Weisselberg's lawyer, Nicholas Gravante, Jr. told the New York Times yesterday that his client was engaged in plea bargaining talks, so it would not come as a shock if that was the purpose of Thursday's court date.

It is worth noting that the former POTUS is not a defendant in this case, but has been facing his own potential legal problems following the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was recently the subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid and, per Bloomberg, "he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday [August 10] to avoid answering deposition questions in a civil probe of his family real estate business by New York Attorney General Letitia James."

On the heels of this raid, which has Republicans calling for the release of the FBI's affidavit, an appeals court unanimously ruled that the IRS can obtain Trump's personal tax records.

Trump has not publicly commented on the Weisselberg case at this time.

What do you think about Weisselberg likely pleading guilty to tax crimes on Thursday?

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Rebekah Barton

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