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Law360, New York (March 24, 2020, 12:59 PM EDT) -- A Manhattan federal judge denied Michael Cohen's bid for early release from prison Tuesday, saying a recent letter filed by President Donald Trump's former lawyer citing health concerns over the coronavirus outbreak appears to be "another effort to inject himself into the news cycle."
Judge William H. Pauley III's decision leaves the 53-year-old former ally of the Republican president to serve his 36-month sentence at an upstate New York federal detention center for crimes including paying off two women who said they had affairs with the president, lying to Congress about Russia and dodging taxes on $4.1 million of income.
"Ten months into his prison term, it's time that Cohen accept the consequences of his criminal convictions for serious crimes that had far-reaching institutional harms. For these reasons, Cohen's application to reduce or modify his sentence is denied," Judge Pauley wrote.
Cohen has cited what he describes as extensive cooperation with the authorities in their investigations of the president — a contention prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office have pushed back against.
More recently, his attorney Roger Adler asked Judge Pauley to "consider my client's exposure to the coronavirus," arguing that inmates are "obliged to live in close quarters and are at an enhanced risk." Those arguments also have been rejected by prosecutors.
Judge Pauley said the virus-linked filings amounted to a fruitless search for a new argument.
"That Cohen would seek to single himself out for release to home confinement appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle," the judge wrote.
Adler said in an email that he is "disappointed" with the ruling. He reiterated his assertion that Cohen is at increased risk of contracting COVID-19, the illness associated with the virus, while he is in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.
Cohen is imprisoned in Otisville, New York, with a 2021 release date.
Cohen is represented by Michael Monico of Monico & Spevack, Lanny Davis of Davis Goldberg & Galper PLLC and Roger Adler.
The government is represented by Thomas McKay, Nicolas Roos and Andrea Griswold of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is U.S. v. Cohen, case number 1:18-cr-00602, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
--Editing by Marygrace Murphy.
Update: This story has been updated with comment from Cohen's lawyer.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
