A federal judge was not swayed by a request from Michael Cohen for an early release or a way to serve the rest of his sentence under home confinement due to the coronavirus.
Cohen claimed the coronavirus outbreak made it unsafe for him to remain in prison, but Judge William H. Pauley III suggested Cohen’s request was merely a way to justify a previous attempt he made of asking for leniency.
“Apparently searching for a new argument to justify a modification of his sentence to home confinement, Cohen now raises the specter of COVID-19,” Pauley wrote in a Tuesday order. “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.”
Last week, Cohen tried to petition the president via Twitter to have the Federal Bureau of Prisoners allow prisoners like him to be released due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Pauley said Cohen “is ‘manifestly ineligible’ for compassionate release and has not exhausted his administrative remedies.”
Cohen began serving three years in prison on May 6, 2019, after he pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, other financial crimes, and providing false testimony to Congress.
“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,” Pauley wrote. “For these reasons, Cohen’s application to reduce or modify his sentence is denied.”
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