A New York judge dismissed a lawsuit Friday filed by former President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, against the Trump Organization.
In a ruling more than two years after Cohen filed the lawsuit in 2019 in New York City, alleging Trump’s business did not pay his legal bills up to a promised amount, Judge Joel Cohen determined that the blame was misplaced.
“Mr. Cohen’s legal fees arise out of his (sometimes unlawful) service to Mr. Trump personally, to Mr. Trump’s campaign, and to the Trump Foundation,” Joel Cohen wrote in his ruling, according to the Associated Press. “But not out of his service to the business of the Trump Organization, which is the only defendant in this case.”
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The lawsuit demanded $3.8 million, including $1.9 million in legal fees and $1.9 million Michael Cohen, who is not related to the judge, had to forfeit when he was sentenced to prison in 2018. It also claimed the “Trump Organization agreed to indemnify Mr. Cohen and to pay attorneys’ fees and costs incurred by Mr. Cohen in connection with various matters arising from Mr. Cohen’s work with and on behalf of the Organization.”
Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress about a planned Trump Tower project in Moscow as well as charges of tax fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations for hush-money payments to two women during the 2016 campaign who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied those relationships. Michael Cohen, who has become a vocal critic of the former president, was sentenced to three years in federal prison but got out early and put into home confinement due to coronavirus concerns.
“Today’s incredible victory for the Trump Organization puts an end to the frivolous litigation by convicted felon Michael Cohen,” a Trump Organization spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “While the Southern District of New York already found that Mr. Cohen engaged in a ‘smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct … motivated by personal greed and ambition,’ Mr. Cohen attempted to invent a basis for requiring the Trump Organization to pay his legal fees for personal criminal conduct (including perjury). Mr. Cohen’s attempts at self-enrichment, however, once again failed. Having won this case, we now look forward to seeking monetary damages against Mr. Cohen for all of his despicable conduct.”
Michael Cohen told CNN the ruling was a “terrible decision” and said he would take the weekend with his counsel to decide on whether to file an appeal.
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The victory for Trump comes on the same day that former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos dropped her defamation lawsuit against the former president.
