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U.S. Attorney recommends jail time for Michael Cohen

Sentencing memorandum recommends a prison term between 46 and 63 months

December 7, 2018

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is recommending a "substantial term of imprisonment" for former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, Michael Cohen. The U.S. attorney submitted a filing in the case on Friday. The Special Counsel's Office also filed its sentencing memo on Friday.

Unlike the

U.S. attorney's office, the filing memo from the special counsel said it did "not take a position with respect to a particular sentence to be imposed." While the gravity of Cohen's crimes must be considered before sentencing, the filing said, it recommended the government give due recognition to his "substantial and significant efforts to remediate his misconduct, accept responsibility for his actions, and assist the SCO's investigation."

According to the U.S. attorney's filing, for the crimes committed by Cohen, 51 to 63 months is within the sentencing guideline. It referred to Cohen's crimes as reflecting "extensive, deliberate, and serious criminal conduct." 

His actions, the filing said, "suggest that Cohen relished the status of ultimate fixer – a role that he embraced as recently as May 2018."

The offenses committed by Cohen, the U.S. attorney said, "reveal a man who knowingly sought to undermine core institutions of our democracy."

The filing found that Cohen deserved a substantial sentence not only for his actions during the Trump campaign and for lying to Congress, but for personal criminal actions such as engaging in tax fraud. The U.S. attorney further claimed in the filing that though Cohen had met with their office twice, he did not offer his full cooperation.

"Within the confines of the SCO investigation itself, the Office does not dispute that Cohen's assistance to the SCO was significant. But because Cohen elected not to pursue more fulsome cooperation with this Office, including on other subjects and on his own history, the Office cannot assess the overall level of Cohen's cooperation to be significant," the filing said about why a more lenient sentence in exchange for cooperation was being offered.

During the campaign, Cohen made hush money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Mr. Trump. He admitted in a Manhattan federal court in August that he had done so at the direction of Mr. Trump. The filing said that Cohen's actions during the campaign were counter to American values of "transparency," and that he "deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election."

"After cheating the IRS for years, lying to banks and to Congress, and seeking to criminally influence the Presidential election, Cohen's decision to plead guilty - rather than seek a pardon for his manifold crimes - does not make him a hero," the filing concluded.