Michael Cohen faces sentencing in Manhattan federal court on nine criminal charges. Cohen left his Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan, accompanied by his wife Laura, and his two children. Prosecutors in The Southern District of New York argued he should get a 'substantial' sentence after taking his extensive cooperation with the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe into consideration.
Judge William H. Pauley III called Mr. Cohen’s crimes a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct” and added, “Each of the crimes involved deception and each appears to have been motivated by personal greed and ambition.” He added that Mr. Cohen’s particular crimes — breaking campaign finance laws, tax evasion and lying to Congress — “implicate a far more insidious harm to our democratic institutions.” The judge said Mr. Cohen’s assistance to the special counsel’s office, though useful, did not “wipe the slate clean,” and a “significant term” of prison was justified. Cohen, the prosecutors said, offered to help them, but only on his terms, and there were some subjects he declined to discuss.
Mr. Cohen admitted in court that he had arranged the payments “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016.
The payments included $130,000 to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, which the government considers an illegal donation to Mr. Trump’s campaign since it was intended to improve Mr. Trump’s election chances. (The legal limit for individual contributions is $2,700 in a general election.)
Mr. Cohen also admitted he had arranged for an illegal corporate donation to be made to Mr. Trump when he orchestrated a $150,000 payment by American Media Inc. to a former Playboy playmate, Karen McDougal, in late summer 2016.
Prosecutors in Manhattan wrote last Friday to Judge Pauley that Mr. Cohen, in arranging the payments, “acted in coordination with and at the direction” of Mr. Trump, whom they referred to as Individual 1.