Donald Trump’s Ex-Lawyer Michael Cohen Sentenced To Three Years In Federal Prison
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump‘s former lawyer, was sentenced, Wednesday, to three years in prison.
Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty to crimes including tax evasion, lying to Congress about Trump’s prior business dealings with Russia, and illegal “hush money” he paid during the 2016 presidential election to buy the silence of pornstar Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal — who both claim they had affairs with Trump.
In a sentencing memo filed last week, federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York wrote that “Individual 1” — Trump — directed Cohen to make the hush money payments, which are felony campaign finance violations.
As Judge William Pauley of the Southern District of New York handed down the sentence, he told Cohen, “Each of these crimes is a serious offense against the United States.”
“Mr. Cohen pled guilty to a veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct,” Pauley also noted.
Cohen will begin serving time on March 6, 2019, likely at the Federal Correctional Institute Otisville, in upstate New York, per recommendation from the judge.
“I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to,” Cohen said on Wednesday. “The personal ones to me and those involving the President of the United States of America.”
He further called his sentencing “one of the most meaningful days of my life.”
