Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Is Denied Early End to Probation After Making ‘False Statements’ About His Past Crimes on Television and in His Books

Updated at 11:30 P.M. E.D.T.President Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to prison for tax fraud, lying, and campaign finance violations, has been denied an early end to his probation by a federal judge after prosecutors argued he’s continued to make falsehoods about his past criminal conduct.Prosecutors from the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, headed by Damian Williams, responded to Cohen’s motion to end his probation by noting that “Cohen’s lies” had “undermined his attempts at cooperation, and pointed to Cohen’s repeated attempts to downplay his own conduct after his guilty plea.”The prosecutors’ letter to the court, filed by an assistant United States Attorney, Nicolas Roos, contends that Cohen’s “rose-colored description of his past conduct” downplayed his resistance to cooperation with the federal government in 2018. The prosecution also wrote that Cohen lied in his 2022 book, “Revenge,” when he stated that he “did not engage in tax fraud” despite the fact he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax fraud. Prosecutors also claimed that Cohen was lying when he wrote in the same book that he was being “threatened” by prosecutors. Furthermore, the prosecutors’ letter noted that Cohen had pleaded guilty to one count of lying to a financial institution. Despite that fact, Cohen told MSNBC’s Ari Melber in March of this year that there was “no fraud” in lying to that institution. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax fraud and lying to federal investigators in 2018, among other crimes, was confined in prison in late 2019 before being granted early release in May 2020 due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. He served the remainder of his term under house arrest The presiding judge, Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York, ruled that Cohen had not demonstrated penance for his crimes and has consistently downplayed his illicit acts while making appearances in the media and in his two memoirs. “Among other things, the statements quoted above from Defendant’s book and television appearance suggest that a reduction of Defendant’s supervised release term would not serve the purposes” of his confinement, “including deterrence, rehabilitation, or proportionality,” Judge Furman wrote in his opinion. The federal prosecutors’ letter requesting denial of Cohen’s early release notes that the presiding judge in Cohen’s original criminal trial, William Pauley, said that Cohen had committed a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct.” Just six months before this motion to end probation, Cohen’s legal team submitted a near-identical motion asking for the same outcome, which was also denied. Throughout his prison sentence, Judge Pauley denied multiple motions from Cohen, including requests for early releases and modified sentences, among others. Citing a 1997 case from the United States Second Circuit, the prosecutors’ letter says that early release may only be granted when “new and unforeseen circumstances” or the “good behavior by the defendant” can reasonably be accepted as a reason for early release from a sentence. Judge Furman agreed with prosecutors that Cohen’s push for early release matches the motion made six months ago, and he has demonstrated no special need or changed circumstances that would justify an end to his sentence. ________________This article has been updated to clarify the authorship of the letter from federal prosecutors regarding Cohen’s request for an early end to his probation.

Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Is Denied Early End to Probation After Making ‘False Statements’ About His Past Crimes on Television and in His Books

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