Legal analyst explains how former Trump CFO could potentially get hit with perjury charges

20 May 2023

An MSNBC News analyst recently weighed in on a New York Times report detailing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's remarks about possibly charging Allen Weisselberg — the former chief financial officer (CFO) of the Trump Organization — with perjury.

On Saturday, May 20, Lisa Rubin wrote an analysis where she offered her take on Weisselberg's recent testimony and how he may have further incriminated himself.

The former CFO was recently released from the Rikers Island Correctional Facility after serving time on 15 counts including tax fraud, falsifying records, and grand larceny.

According to Rubin, Weisselberg may have made things worse for himself when he testified to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

During that interview, he revealed how he learned of former President Donald Trump's inflating of property values and Rubin insists that may be the problem. In her analysis, she broke down the timeline.

"Let’s start with the fact that Weisselberg was interviewed by the attorney general’s office three times in 2020: on July 16, July 17, and September 24," Rubin wrote. "The transcripts of those depositions are at least partially public through filings in the attorney general’s civil fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization, Trump himself, three of his children, and Weisselberg, among others."

She also added, "And even a cursory read of those transcripts, coupled with other filings by the attorney general, suggests at least one potential avenue for a perjury charge: Weisselberg’s involvement in the overvaluation of Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower and at what point he knew that valuation was false."

Rubin went on to highlight an excerpt of James' brief which read, "Weisselberg admitted that the Statements overvalued Mr. Trump’s apartment by ‘give or take’ $200 million — and evidence later revealed he was provided with the true facts regarding the apartment’s square footage before certifying as accurate the inflated apartment value based on false information,”

She also pointed to comments that Weisselberg made about a Forbes review. At that time, he discussed valuation.

"'The Forbes article' Weisselberg referenced in his deposition, according to the attorney general’s filings, was not provided to Weisselberg until March 2017, when he, as well as Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, were alerted that while Trump told Forbes his apartment was roughly 33,000 square feet, the magazine found property records and 'concluded it was less than one third that size," she wrote.

"Put another way, at least according to the attorney general’s version of events, Weisselberg didn’t learn the valuation was false after the fact, as he testified," she added. "Instead, he received documents reflecting the 'true size of the triplex' years before he certified the 2015 financial statement."

She concluded, "Therefore, the Manhattan DA’s office has a colorable argument that Weisselberg lied under oath during his July 17, 2020, deposition."