Headline RoundupAugust 18th, 2022

Former Trump Organization CFO Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pled guilty to tax fraud charges Thursday.

The 74-year-old was charged with 15 felonies in June 2021 related to concealing more than $1.7 million in off-the-books income over a 15-year period. He is expected to be sentenced to five months at Rikers Island jail and five years probation, and he must pay back the owed money. The plea deal Weisselberg struck will also require him to testify about the Trump family's real estate business and its financial practices when it goes on trial this fall.

Former President Donald Trump wasn't charged with a crime. In 2021, Trump reacted to the charges by accusing the Manhattan District Attorney of using Weisselberg "as a pawn in a scorched earth attempt to harm the former President."

Right-rated outlets were typically more clear that Weisselberg is the former CFO, rather than current. Left-rated outlets highlighted the news more prominently and tended to paint the Trump family and its business in a more negative light. The New York Daily News highlighted how Weisselberg "directly implicated former President Donald Trump’s family real estate business" in the crimes. National Review focused more on Trump's criticism of the trial, and reported that Weisselberg "is not expected to implicate the Trump family, but by pleading guilty, may be leaving the company to face trial alone in October."

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