A longtime senior executive at Donald Trump’s family business pleaded guilty to conspiring with the company in a 15-year tax fraud.
Allen Weisselberg, the former financial director of the Trump Organization, filed his request in a New York state court in Manhattan.
The 75-year-old may now be forced to testify against the company, which is also a defendant, in a criminal trial scheduled for October.
Weisselberg worked for trump for about half a century.
He gave up his chief financial officer job after he and the Trump Organization were indicted, but remains on the former president’s payroll as a senior adviser.
Weisselberg is not expected to collaborate with Manhattan prosecutors in their broader investigation of Mr. Trump himself, said one person familiar with the matter.
The former US president has not been accused or charged with wrongdoing.
Despite Weisselberg’s refusal to cooperate, his request will likely strengthen the prosecutors’ case against Trump’s company, which has pleaded not guilty.
The defendants were indicted in July 2021 on charges of fraud, tax fraud and forgery of corporate documents, in which some executives were paid “off-the-book”.
Prosecutors said Weisselberg hid and avoided taxes on $ 1.76 million (£ 1.47 million) of income including rent for a Manhattan apartment, rents for two Mercedes-Benz vehicles and tuition for family members.
The tuition checks were signed by Mr. Trump.
Weisselberg will likely be sentenced to five months in prison and five years of probation.
The prison sentence will begin after the Trump Organization’s trial ends.
Weisselberg could be released after about 100 days, another person familiar with the matter said.
The prison sentence would have been much shorter than the many years in state prison he could have faced if, instead of pleading guilty, he had been convicted after a trial.
The allegations he faced include many of the charges the Trump Organization faces, as well as other charges including large-scale theft, which refers to the theft of high-value personal property.
The Trump Organization operates golf clubs, hotels and other real estate around the world.
He could face fines and other penalties if sentenced to trial.
The indictment arose out of an investigation by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, but faded after Alvin Bragg became district attorney in January.
Two prosecutors who had conducted the investigation resigned in February, with one saying the crime charges should be.
against Trump, but which Bragg indicated he had doubts.
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Trump faces many more legal battles as his critics fear he is considering running for office again in 2024.
Last week, FBI agents searched the property of the former US president in Florida for confidential and other documents of his time in the White House.
Two days later, Trump was overthrown by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation into his affairs.
Him repeatedly refused to answer questionsciting his fifth amendment to US constitutional law against self-incrimination.
