Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is agreeing to testify in a potential trial, but not sign on as a cooperator with New York prosecutors' investigation of the company's finances, under his plea agreement, a source told CNN.
Weisselberg's plea agreement is still being finalized, according to the report, but he is expected to receive a five-month prison sentence — albeit reportedly serving just about 100 days behind bars — and have no cooperation agreement. A Thursday hearing is set before the judge.
Weisselberg will be asked to testify in a trial if the case against the Trump Organization moves forward and the company does not plea out of trial. The judge had set a trial date of Oct. 24, just weeks before the November midterm elections.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office sought Weisselberg's cooperation since bringing the tax charges last year, seeking to get an insider's look at the Trump Organization's finances, including potentially whether the company exaggerated property values to secure future loans.
Weisselberg refused to cooperate against Trump or his adult children tied to the company, according to the report.
Weisselberg faced 15 felony counts, including failing to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income and not reporting a Manhattan apartment, personal access to a company car, or private school tuition as personal income on his taxes, prosecutors allege.
The Trump Organization faces 10 counts related to Weisselberg and other executives, according to the report.
New York Attorney General Letitia James had brought in Trump and his legal team for a deposition in a civil lawsuit last week, but Trump, citing the investigation into his company, repeatedly took his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions.
Legal expert Alan Dershowitz noted Weisselberg might be the one that catches the "flak" for the company.
''When you have a very large corporation, which has lots of businesses all over the world, often what you have is just an indictment of two units: one, the company itself, and then somebody who we criminal lawyers call 'the vice president in charge of going to jail,''' Dershowitz told Tuesday's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" on Newsmax.
''There's usually one person who is the flak-catcher, who has been paid a lot of money, and the understanding is that that person will take the blame for everything that's gone on.
''I have no idea whether this guy was 'the vice president in charge of going to jail,' but I've had many cases in my career where such persons have manifested themselves and they've been the ones who get prosecuted, may usually serve as a buffer to prevent from going higher and higher and higher. There have been many cases like this.
''Again, I don't know whether this is that, but there has to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt that any individual is guilty. And right now that doesn't seem to be the case involving the CEO of the company, Donald Trump.''
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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