'Slam dunk': Legal expert says Trump CFO faces 'very poor' chance of acquittal

Longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was indicted on tax fraud charges this week, and one former federal prosecutor believes that the case against him amounts to a "slam dunk."

Writing in The Daily Beast, former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg argues that the case against Weisselberg is so strong that prosecutors likely won't need to rely on cooperating witnesses to make it, as they have sufficient documentary evidence of his crimes.

"It will not be difficult to establish that Weisselberg lived rent-free for years in an apartment paid for by his employer, or that the Trump Organization also paid for his grandchildren's tuition and the leases on his and his wife's Mercedes," he writes. "All of this is clearly income and the tax returns show it was never reported as such."

Zeidenberg then turns to the question of whether this will be enough to get Weisselberg to cooperate into prosecutors' investigations of former President Donald Trump.

"Assuming Weisselberg has competent counsel, he will be told that his chances at trial are very poor and that he faces the likelihood of conviction and incarceration for at least several years," he writes. "This is not an inviting prospect for anyone, and particularly for a 73 year-old defendant like Weisselberg who has been enjoying life as a rent-free resident at Trump Tower for the past 15 years. Prudence and commonsense suggests that cooperating against Trump is clearly the most intelligent option."

All the same, Zeidenberg cautions, Weisselberg may still put his loyalty to Trump over common sense.

Read the full analysis here.