Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial
Oh Allen? What would your mother say if she was here to see this dismal news of her son, “The Accountant” and his extraordinary fall from grace? You’re the one she was so proud of, the smart one! If she’d been asked if you would ever be caught with your pants down like this, she’d surely have said, “Oh no! Allen is the last person who would ever be caught doing something so stupid! He’s an accountant! He would know better!
Sad…right? Allen. Please go to Amazon and read my book, “What Goes Around Comes Around – A. Guide To How Life REALLY Works.” Or here’s an idea. Get the audio book on Audible so you can listen to it while you serve your time. At least then, perhaps you can turn that lemon to some degree, into lemonade. And if you need to read a review to convince you, go to Kirkus Reviews and look it up!
The chief financial officer of the former president’s business is expected to admit to 15 felonies on Thursday and to take the stand at the company’s trial.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/nyregion/weisselberg-trump-plea-testify.html?smid=em-share
Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial
Allen H. Weisselberg, for decades one of Donald J. Trump’s most trusted executives, has reached a deal to plead guilty on Thursday and admit to participating in a long-running tax scheme at the former president’s family business — a serious blow to the company that could heighten its risk in an upcoming trial on related charges.
Mr. Weisselberg will have to admit to all 15 felonies that prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office accused him of, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And if he is called as a witness at the company’s trial in October, he will have to testify about his role in the scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish corporate perks, the people said.
But Mr. Weisselberg will not implicate Mr. Trump or his family if he takes the stand in that trial, the people said, and he has refused to cooperate with prosecutors in their broader investigation into Mr. Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Even so, his potential testimony will put the Trump Organization at a disadvantage and is likely to make Mr. Weisselberg a central witness at the October trial, where the company will face many of the same charges.
On cross-examination, the Trump Organization’s lawyers could accuse Mr. Weisselberg of pleading guilty only to spare himself a harsher sentence; under the terms of the plea deal, Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, will spend as little as 100 days behind bars. They might also argue that it would be unfair to hold the Trump Organization accountable for a crime that was not committed by the Trump family, who control the company.
But Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony — an acknowledgment from one of the Trump Organization’s top executives that he committed the crimes listed in the indictment — would undercut any effort by the company’s lawyers to contend that no crime was committed.
The indictment placed Mr. Weisselberg at the center of a conspiracy that prosecutors said allowed him to avoid paying taxes on leased Mercedes-Benzes, an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and private school tuition for his grandchildren.
Prosecutors have said other employees benefited from a similar arrangement, but no one else has been charged with a crime. Mr. Weisselberg’s testimony could help prosecutors prove their broader claims.
The prosecutors also essentially accused him of conspiring with the Trump Organization, which he will have to acknowledge at his plea hearing on Thursday and at the trial if he is called as a witness.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Mr. Weisselberg was nearing a deal with prosecutors, and CNN reported Wednesday that he had agreed to testify at the Trump Organization’s trial.
Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers, Nicholas Gravante Jr. and Mary E. Mulligan, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.
Mr. Weisselberg, 75, and the Trump Organization were indicted last year by the district attorney’s office and accused of orchestrating a scheme in which some executives were compensated with special off-the-books perks. Mr. Weisselberg, the prosecutors said, avoided paying taxes on $1.76 million of his income over the last 15 years.
The executive, who entered the Trump orbit as a junior bookkeeper for Mr. Trump’s father and climbed the ranks at the Trump Organization in the decades that followed, possessed a peerless knowledge of its business practices, and prosecutors had pressured him to cooperate with their wider investigation into the former president. But the district attorney who indicted him, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., was not able to sway him, and Mr. Vance’s successor, Alvin L. Bragg, has also been unsuccessful.
The deal, though, could represent a victory for Mr. Bragg as his prosecutors prepare for the highest-profile trial of his young tenure. Mr. Weisselberg is expected to receive a five-month jail term, and with time credited for good behavior, he is likely to serve about two-thirds of that.
The district attorney’s office has pushed for a steeper sentence, but Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers and the judge overseeing the case agreed to five months, one of the people with knowledge of the matter said.
The investigation into Mr. Trump has largely focused on whether he fraudulently inflated the value of his real estate and other assets to obtain loans and other financial benefits. Over the last year, the prosecutors have examined Mr. Trump’s annual financial statements, which he provided to banks and insurance companies.
The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, is conducting a civil inquiry into the same allegations, and some of her lawyers are participating in the criminal inquiry. Earlier this month, her office deposed Mr. Trump, who declined to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, leaving the attorney general to decide whether to file a lawsuit against the former president.
Mr. Trump’s refusal to answer questions came on the heels of the F.B.I. search of his Florida home as part of an unrelated criminal investigation. He also faces scrutiny in Washington, D.C., and in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
In Manhattan, the investigation has long presented a significant threat to Mr. Trump. For years, Mr. Vance’s prosecutors sought his tax returns, a battle that reached the Supreme Court twice. Before the court ruled in the district attorney’s favor, Bloomberg News reported on some of the perks that Mr. Weisselberg had received, leading prosecutors to more closely scrutinize the chief financial officer’s conduct.
In the indictment, prosecutors said that Mr. Weisselberg avoided reporting his perks to tax authorities, and that they were not reflected in the Trump Organization’s general ledger, even though they were tracked on spreadsheets within the company.
Even after his indictment, Mr. Weisselberg refused to cooperate against Mr. Trump as the office continued its investigation into the former president. Before leaving office at the end of the year, Mr. Vance directed prosecutors to begin presenting evidence about the former president to a grand jury.
Mr. Bragg was sworn in on Jan. 1, and after weeks of meetings about the case, he developed concerns about proving that Mr. Trump had intended to commit a crime. The grand jury stopped hearing evidence, and in February, the two prosecutors leading the investigation resigned, leaving the investigation’s future uncertain.
Mr. Bragg has defended the inquiry and said that it has continued. But Mr. Weisselberg has refused to cooperate with the broader investigation, and that decision made a plea deal in his own case elusive, the people said.
Even without his cooperation against the Trump family, the negotiations gained steam in recent weeks, culminating in a meeting on Monday among Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers, prosecutors and the State Supreme Court judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan.
The judge won’t sentence Mr. Weisselberg until after the Trump Organization’s trial, providing prosecutors some leverage over him until the time that he may testify. If Justice Merchan finds that Mr. Weisselberg did not live up to the terms of the plea agreement, he can impose a stiffer sentence than the expected five months.
It is unclear where Mr. Weisselberg would serve his time, but defendants who receive sentences of less than a year are generally sent to one of the jails on Rikers Island. If Mr. Weisselberg were to be sent there, he would be likely to be held in protective custody. His lawyers could also ask that he be placed in a medical ward, or could seek home confinement.
The post Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial appeared first on New York Times.
Woman Testifies R Kelly Sexually Abused Her When She Was 14
Woman Testifies R Kelly Sexually Abused Her When She Was 14
Kirkus Reviews, the gold-standard for independent & accurate reviews, has this to say about
What Goes Around Comes Around:
A stable, positive, non preachy, objective voice makes the book stand apart from others in the genre. A successful guide that uses anecdotes to reveal powerful truths about life.
~ Kirkus Reviews
“I’ve read a number of books that focus on sharing a similar message, including “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, “The Answer” by John Assaraf & Murray Smith, “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield, “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill, and I must say that I find Rob’s to be my favorite.” – Sheryl Woodhouse, founder of Livelihood Matters LLC
Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial
Plea Deal Requires Weisselberg to Testify at Trump Organization Trial
R&B Superstar R. Kelly Convicted in Sex Trafficking Trial
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER) R&B Superstar R. Kelly ConvictedNew York (AP) — R. Kelly, the R&B superstar known for his anthem “I Believe I Can Fly,” was convicted Monday in a sex trafficking trial after decades of avoiding criminal responsibility for numerous allegations of misconduct with young women and children.
A jury of seven men and five women found Kelly, 54, guilty of all nine counts, including racketeering, on their second day of deliberations. Kelly wore a face mask below black-rimmed glasses, remaining motionless with eyes downcast, as the verdict was read in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors alleged that the entourage of managers and aides who helped Kelly meet girls — and keep them obedient and quiet — amounted to a criminal enterprise. Two people have been charged with Kelly in a separate federal case pending in Chicago.
He faces the possibility of decades in prison for crimes including violating the Mann Act, an anti-sex trafficking law that prohibits taking anyone across state lines “for any immoral purpose.” Sentencing is scheduled for May 4.
One of Kelly’s lawyers, Deveraux Cannick, said he was disappointed and hoped to appeal.
“I think I’m even more disappointed the government brought the case in the first place, given all the inconsistencies,” Cannick said.
Several accusers testified in lurid detail during the trial, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
For years, the public and news media seemed to be more amused than horrified by allegations of inappropriate relationships with minors, starting with Kelly’s illegal marriage to the R&B phenom Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15. R&B Superstar R. Kelly Convicted
His records and concert tickets kept selling. Other artists continued to record his songs, even after he was arrested in 2002 and accused of making a recording of himself sexually abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.
Widespread public condemnation didn’t come until a widely watched docuseries, “Surviving R. Kelly,” helped make his case a signifier of the #MeToo era, and gave voice to accusers who wondered if their stories were previously ignored because they were Black women.
“To the victims in this case, your voices were heard and justice was finally served,” Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said Monday.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer for some of Kelly’s accusers, said outside the courthouse that of all the predators she’s gone after — a list including Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein — “Mr. Kelly is the worst.”
At the trial, several of Kelly’s accusers testified without using their real names to protect their privacy. Jurors were shown homemade videos of Kelly engaging in sex acts that prosecutors said were not consensual.
The defense labeled the accusers “groupies” and “stalkers.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Cannick, questioned why women stayed in relationships with Kelly if they thought they were being exploited.
“You made a choice,” Cannick told one woman who testified, adding, “You participated of your own will.”
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been jailed without bail since in 2019. The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer. He also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota. Trial dates in those cases have yet to be set.
At the trial, prosecutors painted the singer as a pampered man-child and control freak. His accusers said they were under orders to call him “Daddy,” expected to jump and kiss him anytime he walked into a room, and to cheer only for him when he played pickup basketball games in which they said he was a ball hog.
The accusers alleged they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as “Rob’s rules.” Some said they believed the videotapes he shot of them having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.
Among the other more troubling tableaux: Kelly keeping a gun by his side while he berated one of his accusers as a prelude to forcing her to give him oral sex in a Los Angeles music studio; Kelly giving several accusers herpes without disclosing he had an STD; Kelly coercing a teenage boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage; and Kelly shooting a shaming video of one alleged victim showing her smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules.
Of 14 possible racketeering acts considered in the trial, the jury found only two “not proven.” The allegations involved a woman who said Kelly took advantage of her in 2003 when she was an unsuspecting radio station intern. R&B Superstar R. Kelly Convicted
She testified he whisked her to his Chicago recording studio, where she was kept locked up and was drugged before he sexually assaulted her while she was passed out. When she realized she was trapped, “I was scared. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed,” she said.
Other testimony focused on Kelly’s relationship with Aaliyah. One of the final witnesses described seeing him sexually abusing her around 1993, when Aaliyah was only 13 or 14.
Jurors also heard testimony about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated Aaliyah. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time.
Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.” She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.
Kelly had been tried once before, in Chicago in a child pornography case, but was acquitted in 2008.
For the Brooklyn trial, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly barred people not directly involved in the case from the courtroom in what she called a coronavirus precaution. Reporters and other spectators had to watch on a video feed from another room in the same building, though a few were allowed in the courtroom for the verdict.