Dem
51
GOP
49
The Allen Weisselberg saga seems to have reached its end. Sentencing was scheduled for yesterday, and Judge Juan Merchan affirmed an already-agreed-upon sentence of 5 months. The former Trump Organization CFO (and still Trump Organization employee) reported immediately to Riker's Island to begin serving his sentence. That is a particularly notorious prison, but Weisselberg will be kept separate from the general population, so that any Trump "fans" in the pokey can't use Weisselberg's head to express their views.
Given the extent of Weisselberg's malfeasance, this certainly seems like a slap on the wrist to us. It also seems that way to... the judge who sentenced him. The 5-month term was part of a plea-bargain agreement, in exchange for Weisselberg's "truthful" testimony in the case(s) against the Trump Organization. And yesterday, Merchan lamented how light the sentence he agreed to is, now that he's heard all the relevant testimony. He observed that, but for that agreement, the sentence would have been "much greater." For the record, the maximum penalty for the crimes with which Weisselberg was charged is 15 years.
And so, Weisselberg appears to have dodged multiple bullets. While he did render "truthful" testimony, he was very circumspect, such that he did not anger the Trumps and so he remains on the payroll. And while he'll spend some time in the slammer, it will end up being something like 3 months of pretty easy time, so he's not going to pay all that much a price for his malfeasance. We are having our legal research team look into it, but we assume this marks the first time in American history that a rich white guy was able to escape serious punishment for crimes he was caught red-handed committing. (Z)