Michael Cohen (lawyer)

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Michael Cohen (2011)

Michael Dean Cohen (born August 25, 1966 on Long Island , New York ) is an American lawyer and former attorney . He gained international fame for his role in representing the interests of the future US President Donald Trump .

The US Department of Justice has been investigating Cohen's involvement in possible hush money payments since 2018 in order to prevent “inappropriate” reports about the then presidential candidate Trump in the 2016 election campaign . The authority is investigating the suspicion of possible misappropriation from the election campaign fund.

On December 12, 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years imprisonment for tax evasion and false testimony before Congress.

Life

Michael Cohen was born the son of a Polish Jewish immigrant who fled to the United States during World War II . In 1992, Cohen graduated from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School . Cohen opened his own law firm and entered the taxi licensing business in New York City with businessman Simon Garber, who immigrated from Ukraine in 1978 ; later the Russian-born Evgeny Freidman , known as "the taxi king of New York", became his business partner. He also tried to attract US investors to invest in Ukraine . He later became a partner in Phillips Nizer law firm. During this time Cohen also began to invest parts of his own assets in the possession of Donald Trump's companies. Cohen was installed by Trump as a representative in the owners' meeting of the Trump World Tower , where Cohen apparently succeeded in thwarting an uprising against Trump by the owners gathered there.

In 2007, Trump offered Cohen a position as vice president and advisor in his organization. In 2011, according to research by the US media platform Vox , Cohen is said to have already considered Trump's candidacy for the 2012 US presidential election, but Trump did not run. Cohen worked in various real estate businesses in New York and explored investment opportunities for Trump in Georgia and Kazakhstan .

Presidency Trump

In 2015, Donald Trump decided to run for the 2016 US presidential election. Cohen became legal advisor to Trump's campaign team. Cohen threatened the editor of The Daily Beast magazine in July 2015 , according to a Vox article , to prevent a story from being published that Trump allegedly raped his ex-wife Ivana Trump . In August 2016, Cohen arranged hush money to be paid to Karen McDougal to prevent the publication of the story of her alleged affair with Trump. The money was paid to her as a fee for the exclusive rights to her story from the National Enquirer ( American Media ).

In order to pay hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels , who threatened to publish a story about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006, Cohen founded the company "Essential Consultants LLC" in October 2016.

On April 9, 2018, federal officials ransacked Cohen's Manhattan office and hotel room and took away his papers, computers, and phones. Cohen was the target of the investigation into the special investigation into the 2016 election campaign in the United States by FBI special investigator Robert Mueller . According to the Washington Post, Cohen is being investigated for bank fraud, check fraud and violation of funding rules for the election campaign.

On August 21, 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts in New York federal court, including two cases of illegal campaign funding and five cases of tax fraud. Specifically, it is also about hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal . Cohen admitted that he made these payments on behalf of "a candidate" but did not reveal his name. According to the state of affairs, this - from the Tagesspiegel's point of view - could only have been about the then presidential candidate Donald Trump. With that, Cohen weighs Trump heavily. The New York Supreme Court revoked Cohen's license to practice law.

In late February 2019, Cohen testified before several congressional committees. He described his former employer as a "racist", a "con man" and a "fraudster". Cohen submitted documents to the committee to support his statements. He clearly confirmed that Trump's campaign team had contact with Russia, that Trump knew and welcomed the Wikileaks publications against Hillary Clinton in advance, and that Trump had personally ordered the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Essential Consultants LLC

According to press research, Cohen founded a company called "Essential Consultants LLC" on October 27, 2016, which he apparently used for various business and some private transactions. Cohen used the Essential Consultants account, according to New York Times research , to process the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels.

Essential Consultants LLC recorded about $ 4.4 million in cash flows between Trump's election as president and January 2018. In 2017, about $ 583,000 was deposited by investment firm Columbus Nova , whose main customer is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg . According to research by the Times, Columbus Nova concluded a consulting contract with Cohen in 2017, which was later terminated because no specific business resulted from it.

The aviation company Korea Aerospace Industries paid $ 600,000 to Cohen.

Additional payments of approximately $ 200,000 came between October 2017 and January 2018 from the telecommunications company AT&T . The company announced that it had paid the money for consultancy work relating to the understanding of the new government to Essential Consultants. The contract expired in December 2017.

Four payments of 99,980 dollars each came from the investment division of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis between October 2017 and January 2018 . Novartis also announced that the contract had expired. In total, Novartis paid $ 1.2 million to Cohen within one year. The corporation announced that Cohen had been hoping for information about Trump's health care reform, but found that Cohen did not understand it.

Cohen is said to have accepted another $ 400,000 from Ukraine in exchange for a meeting between Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Trump. Furthermore, according to BBC research, Ukraine is said to have signed contracts for deliveries of coal and for one billion dollar locomotives from the USA, although it can mine / build both itself. In addition, Ukraine officially closed the investigation into Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort , who is said to have accepted funds from pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. Ukraine officials hoped, according to the BBC article, to convince Trump to authorize arms shipments to Ukraine.

family

Michael Cohen is married with a daughter and a son.

Web links

Commons : Michael D. Cohen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Andrew Prokop: Michael Cohen: Trump's fix-it guy and FBI raid subject, explained. In: vox.com , April 11, 2018
  2. ^ Ex-attorney Cohen took up Trump's remarks on the affair. In: tagesschau.de . Retrieved July 21, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Trump's ex-attorney Cohen sentenced to three years in prison. In: Spiegel Online . December 12, 2018, accessed December 12, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Emily Jane Fox: Michael Cohen Would Take a Bullet for Donald Trump. In: Vanity Fair . September 6, 2017, accessed on August 22, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Ben Fractenberg: Michael Cohen May Have Had Taxi Business In Russia - And Shady Ties. In: The Forward . April 25, 2018, accessed August 25, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett: Trump attorney Cohen is being Investigated for possible banking fraud, campaign finance violations. In: washingtonpost.com , April 9, 2018
  7. ↑ Michael Cohen: Trump's ex-attorney admits payment to porn actress. In: Zeit Online . Retrieved August 21, 2018 .
  8. ^ A b Cohen accuses Donald Trump of being a co-conspirator. In: Der Tagesspiegel . August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Ex-attorney Cohen admits and incriminates Trump . In: sueddeutsche.de . August 22, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on August 21, 2018]).
  10. ^ Ex-lawyer Cohen burdens US President Trump heavily. In: tagesschau.de. Retrieved February 27, 2019 .
  11. ↑ https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/ Amerika/cohen-hat-noch-mehr-geld-aus-der-schweiz-erhalten/story/ 23355667
  12. ↑ Mike McIntire, Ben Protess and Jim Rutenberg: Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen. In: The New York Times, May 8, 2018
  13. ↑ Thorsten Denkler: Why Novartis paid $ 1.2 million to Trump's lawyer. In: Sueddeutsche.de of May 10, 2018
  14. ↑ Paul Wood: Trump lawyer 'paid by Ukraine' to arrange White House talks. BBC 23 May 2018
  15. ↑ Trump lawyer Michael Cohen defends posting daughter's lingerie picture. BBC May 15, 2017
  16. ^ Trump Foot Soldier Sidelined Under Glare of Russia Inquiry. In: The New York Times, July 2, 2017
  17. ↑ Chris Megerian, Sonja Sharp: Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime lawyer, sentenced to three years in prison. Retrieved February 19, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Cohen, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cohen, Michael Dean (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Island , New York