Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg told a blatant lie about a blatant lie. Here's how NYC prosecutors got him for perjury.

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On Monday in Manhattan, Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to two state felony counts of perjury. Both lies involved the size of Donald Trump's Trump Tower penthouse on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The plea essentially renders the former Trump Org CFO useless as a hush-money trial witness. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Allen Weisselberg had little choice but to plead guilty to perjury after Manhattan prosecutors caught him blatantly lying about lying, as they revealed in court Monday. And underlying this stack of lies is Trump's obsession with pretending to banks that he had a massive, gigantic, colossal penthouse — the most expensive apartment, he claimed a decade ago, in New York City history. Here's how Weisselberg, Trump's ever-loyal, former Trump Organization CFO, was inescapably caught repeatedly telling easily provable lies about that penthouse during sworn testimony — felonies that will now send him back to jail for up to five months. It started in 2012 It was in 2012 that Trump was first recorded — in official net-worth statements — wildly exaggerating the size of his penthouse apartment, which spans three floors atop Trump Tower on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Advertisement Trump knew the penthouse was 10,996 square feet. He'd signed a real estate record attesting to that size in 1994. Donald Trump's signature on a 1994 real estate record that proved he knew how big his own triplex apartment was. NY Attorney General's Office/Insider But in the five years of annual net-worth statements he issued for the years 2012 through 2016, he claimed the apartment was 30,000 square feet. "A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," Trump's civil fraud trial judge, state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, wrote back in September. "Absurd," New York Attorney General called Trump's claim, in his 2015 net-worth statement, that the then 30-year-old apartment was worth $327 million. Advertisement She noted that by 2015, no apartment in the city, not even newer and larger ones, had sold for anywhere near that princely sum. Trump Tower in New York Thomson Reuters In the spring of 2017, Trump sat down with a Forbes reporter in a failed attempt to stop the magazine from publishing a bombshell — "Donald Trump has been lying about the size of his penthouse." (Four days after learning Forbes was writing the story, Trump went ahead and issued his 2016 net-worth statement anyway, claiming the apartment was 30,000 square feet one last time, according to fraud-trial evidence.) Weisselberg was at that sit-down with Forbes, assistant Manhattan district attorney Gary Fishman said Monday, during the ex-CFO's plea hearing. Advertisement But in a pretrial deposition conducted in 2020 by the state District Attorney's office, Weisselberg had denied ever being in the same room as Trump when the triplex's size was discussed. He was asked, "Were you ever present when Mr. Trump described the size of his triplex?" "No," Weisselberg answered. Weisselberg's denial could have protected not only himself but also Trump — if only it had been true. Advertisement On Monday, Weisselberg admitted this inescapable deposition falsehood — one that prosecutors may have easily been able to verify with Forbes, which reported that Trump and Weisselberg were together at interviews about the size of the triplex as early as 2015. Weisselberg also admitted Monday that he'd lied in the same 2020 AG deposition about the timing of when he knew the 30,000-square-foot valuation was wrong. "We didn't find out about the error until the Forbes article came out," Weisselberg swore under oath, despite the earlier sit-downs and extensive pre-story emails between Forbes and Weisselberg concerning the square-footage flub. Engoron and state officials have contended that the square footage was intentionally inflated by Trump and Weisselberg as far back as 2012. Advertisement Read the charges Weisselberg pleaded guilty to here. Weisselberg's career as a loyal Trump witness now appears to be over The last Manhattan jury to hear Weisselberg testify did not believe him. (In finding Trump Org guilty of dodging payroll taxes, they rejected the ex-CFO's claim that in running the scheme, he'd had purely selfish motives and that those at the top of the ladder — Donald Trump and his two eldest sons — had nothing to do with it.) Weisselberg could have been a key prosecution witness again later this month, in Trump's upcoming hush money trial. That's the Manhattan criminal trial at which Trump faces anywhere from zero to four years in prison for allegedly lying in business documents to hide a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels made days before the 2020 election.) Advertisement But Monday's perjury plea does not require Weisselberg to cooperate in any way with prosecutors. Instead, Weisselberg's only obligation between now and his April 10 sentencing is to remain law-abiding and not flee the jurisdiction, or else he'll face up to seven years in prison. And prosecutors have already said they do not plan to call Weisselberg as a witness, despite the former CFO's role in the paperwork underlying the hush-money payment and its alleged cover-up. It's unclear what help, if any, Weisselberg could have been as a hush-money defense witness. The alleged fraud's underlying documents say what they say, and no testimony could change their contents. But now, given his official history of lying under oath on Trump's behalf, it's unlikely Trump's side would ever call Weisselberg to the stand, either. Advertisement Jury selection in the hush money trial is scheduled to begin March 25, with the trial expected to last six weeks.