Judge Engoron's Email

There is so much going on today that it’s hard to stay on top of it all. So, I’ve got a rare afternoon newsletter for you. I’ll be back later tonight with an analysis of the Court of Appeals decision denying, as we expected, that former President Trump is entitled to immunity from all criminal prosecution. But I want to make sure we don’t miss the email Judge Engoron sent to counsel in the New York civil fraud case. We’ll take that up now.

Here’s the email:

Late last week, The New York Times reported that former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg, previously convicted on criminal charges related to a tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization and incarcerated at Rikers Island, is now negotiating a plea deal with the Manhattan DA’s office to avoid new criminal charges for perjury. The perjury relates to his testimony in court in the case Judge Engoron is trying, as well as to a preliminary interview he gave New York’s attorney general in connection with it.

The Judge wants the details—the full scope of Weisselberg’s perjury—which seems reasonable since they bear on the case he’s in the process of deciding. The Times article is focused on lies about the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse. That’s because, as Dan Alexander at Forbes wrote after Weisselberg testified in the case that he’d never paid attention to the square footage of the Trump Tower apartment, Forbes had the receipts. Weisselberg had been involved in lobbying them over time for Trump’s inclusion on their billionaire’s list, using his aggressive valuation of the apartment based on fake numbers. In other words, he perjured himself when he testified. According to The New York Times, the Manhattan DA began looking at potential perjury charges shortly after the Forbes story dropped.

Recognizing that he may not be entitled to information about a pending criminal investigation, the Judge nonetheless asks the parties for information they can share, as well as for their assessment of how he should proceed in light of this revelation. Will he delay his final decision until the plea deal, if there’s going to be one, is concluded? Or will his action nudge the plea deal towards a speedier conclusion? As the Judge notes, perjury cases are serious matters to prosecutors. They cut to the heart of our legal system, which is charged with determining the truth and holding people accountable. If an Allen Weisselberg tries to interfere with that, prosecutors are obligated to pursue it (and other potential witnesses should take note). And it’s easy to see why Judge Engoron would have serious questions about whether he can rely on any of Weisselberg’s testimony and how that might impact the outcome of the case, since Weisselberg testified on Trump’s behalf. Weisselberg is an individual defendant in the case. The lawsuit includes allegations he reverse-engineered Trump’s financial statements to meet Trump’s demands about his net worth and signed off on valuations of assets that were contrary to the value assigned by appraisals.

Weisselberg could have had value to prosecutors had he cooperated, fully and truthfully, early on. But he didn’t. He ended up in prison for crimes that he might have testified against Trump in connection with. But he remained loyal and left the Trump Organization last year with a $2 million severance and an unusual deal that required him to avoid cooperating with prosecutors against the Trump’s unless compelled to do so by subpoena—a provision that would seem to be of dubious enforceability.

There’s no indication as of yet that this possible deal signals any new move towards truth-telling by Trump’s man. Although perjury charges could be brought as a felony that carries up to seven years in custody, several prosecutors told me this type of charge in New York could also be handled as a misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of less than a year in jail.

But even if Weisselberg doesn’t come clean, a perjury conviction would make him a tainted witness if he were to take the stand in Trump’s defense at the upcoming criminal prosecution by the Manhattan DA’s office, currently scheduled for late March. It’s hard to imagine the lawyer willing to put a witness who just pled guilty to lying in court to try and protect Trump on the witness stand to testify in his defense. Prosecutors would be entitled to put the whole story on display. What jury wouldn’t get that message?

Nothing is ever simple when Donald Trump is involved. The web of lies and crimes is neverending. And given that the future of his New York real estate business and a significant amount of his “fortune” are at stake in this civil case, the efforts to keep Weisselberg loyally at his side may prove to be his undoing.

We’re in this together,

Joyce