Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, a close associate of former US President Donald Trump, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud, was sentenced Tuesday in New York to five months in prison and fined more than $2 million, AFP reports. .

Weiselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud and tax evasion, including $1.76 million in undeclared income over the years, in the massive financial fraud case that also indicted the Trump Organization on Dec. 6, a first for the group.

“In Manhattan, you have to follow the rules, no matter who you are or who you work for,” Alvin Bragg, New York State’s Attorney for the Manhattan District, said in a statement announcing the five-month prison sentence and more than $2 million in fines dollars in taxes, penalties and interest owed to New York and state tax authorities.

“Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg used his position at the organization to obtain lavish perks, such as rent-free luxury apartments in Manhattan, multiple Mercedes-Benz cars, and public school tuition for his grandchildren, all without paying the required taxes.” said the prosecutor, a Democrat.

“Weisselberg will serve time for his actions,” Bragg added as US media inside the courtroom announced that the former CFO had been taken to New York’s Rikers Island jail in handcuffs. ț=

The case of the Trump Organization, which is expected to be sentenced on Friday by the same criminal court in Manhattan, concerns a system of falsifying accounting reports to hide from the tax authorities for several years (from 2005 to 2018) financial compensation in kind. senior managers.

The Trump Organization, which includes golf clubs, luxury hotels and real estate, sought to impeach its former CFO, saying he himself “said under oath (that) he ‘betrayed’ the company’s trust.”

Although he has yet to be indicted, Donald Trump is the subject of a series of lawsuits that are piling up as he enters the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in a more difficult position than he bargained for.