Former Trump executive sentenced to 5 months in jail for lying in civil fraud case

Weisselberg, 76, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of perjury in connection with the suit.

Allen Weisselberg, a retired executive in Donald Trump's real estate empire, was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in the civil fraud lawsuit brought against the former president by New York's attorney general.

Weisselberg, 76, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of perjury in connection with the suit. He admitted lying when he testified he had little knowledge of how Trump's Manhattan penthouse came to be valued on his financial statements at nearly three times its actual size.

Asked if he wanted to address the court on Wednesday, Weisselberg, wearing a black windbreaker and a face mask, responded, "No, your honour." He was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs following the brief sentencing, which lasted less than five minutes.

It is Weisselberg's second time behind bars. The former Trump Organization chief financial officer served 100 days last year for dodging taxes on US$1.7 million in company perks, including a rent-free Manhattan apartment and luxury cars.

Now, he's again trading life as a Florida retiree for a stay at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail complex.