Trump ally Allen Weisselberg released from prison

Trump ally Allen Weisselberg was released from Rikers Island on Friday after being convicted of lying under oath during the Trump Organization’s civil fraud trial.

Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, was sentenced in April to five months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of perjury.

His attorney Seth Rosenberg confirmed Weisselberg’s release.

Weisselberg previously served time on Rikers Island in 2023 on charges related to a tax fraud scheme. He was sentenced to five months in prison, but was eligible for release after 100 days off for good behavior.

Rosenberg said in an April statement after his sentencing that Weisselberg “has accepted responsibility for his conduct and now looks forward to an end to this life-changing experience and a return to his family and retirement.”.”

The Trump ally has been accused of lying about when and how he learned that former President Donald Trump’s apartment was overvalued. He was accused of committing perjury on the stand and during testimony.

Trump and top Trump Organization executives were hit with a $464 million fraud judgment in February. But a New York appeals court ended up reducing the bail to $175 million and the defendants paid it, which prevented New York Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the sentence during the appeal process. .

Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the civil fraud trial, said in February that Trump and the executives’ “complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on the pathological.”

“The defendants’ refusal to admit the error – indeed, to continue it, according to Independent Monitor – compels this Court to conclude that they will engage in the error going forward unless they are judicially restrained,” Engoron added .

The judge also said that “examples of Weisselberg’s intent to falsify business records are too numerous to itemize.” Engoron ultimately prohibited Weisselberg from “acting in the financial control capacity of any New York corporation or similar business entity operating in the state of New York” and ruled that he must repay the $1 million he had already received from his separation agreement from U.S. $2 million from the company.