Allen Weisselberg, a fiercely loyal and longtime employee of former President Donald Trump’s company, is in advanced talks to seek impeachment, the person said. The judge overseeing the case has set a hearing for Thursday morning.
Under the terms of the deal, which is still being finalized, Weisselberg would receive a five-month prison sentence but serve about 100 days behind bars, the person said. Weisselberg faces up to 15 years in prison.
Weisselberg will not be listed as cooperating, the person said, but will testify at trial if the case moves forward and the Trump Organization does not reach a plea deal. The judge set the trial for October 24.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office announced the charges last year and sought to win Weisselberg’s cooperation against the former president in a broader criminal investigation into the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial statements. Despite the pressure, Weisselberg did not agree to “conform” or cooperate against Trump or his children. No charges have been filed in this investigation.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Trump Organization was charged with 10 counts and Weisselberg with 15 felonies in connection with an alleged scheme dating back to 2005 “to compensate Weisselberg and other Trump Organization executives in a manner that was “out of books”.
Prosecutors allege Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income, including luxury perks including a Manhattan apartment, a pair of Mercedes-Benz cars and private school tuition for two family members.
The decision came after Judge Juan Merchan denied motions by Weisselberg and the Trump Organization to dismiss the tax charges at a hearing last week.
Weisselberg’s expected guilty plea comes during a dramatic legal period for Trump, who last week in a deposition at the New York attorney general’s civil inquiry asserted his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer hundreds of questions about the Trump Organization’s financial statements.
This came two days after the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s private Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, as part of a criminal investigation into the handling of presidential records, including classified documents .
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