Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen Disbarred In New York | Nairalaw

Michael Cohen has been disbarred in New York, with a court
ruling that President Trump’s former lawyer’s guilty plea in Robert
Mueller’s investigation automatically stripped him of his
eligibility to practice law.

The Attorney Grievance Committee sought to strike Cohen’s name
from the roll of attorneys pursuant to New York’s Judiciary
Law § 90(4)(a)^[1] and (b) the Rule for Attorney Disciplinary
Matters^[2] because of his
conviction of a federal felony. His disbarment is backdated to
November when he pleaded guilty.

The court’s decision Tuesday came while Cohen was on Capitol
Hill, testifying behind closed doors before the House Intelligence
Committee. He testified in an open House Oversight Committee
hearing on Wednesday.

“As of yesterday, I am no longer a lawyer,” Cohen said before
the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. “I have lost my law
license.”

Cohen, in November, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a
Trump real estate project in Russia as part of Mueller’s
investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with
Trump campaign associates.

The guilty plea was related directly to his August 2017
testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to
build a Trump Tower in Moscow, giving lawmakers a “false”
description of the Moscow Project. Cohen also testified, at the
time, that all communications with Russia regarding the project
ended in January 2016, prior to the Iowa Caucuses—the first contest
in the presidential race—but later admitted communications
continued through June 2016 when Trump became the Republican
nominee.

Cohen is slated to report to prison in May to serve three years
time.

Trump slammed Cohen on Tuesday, saying he was “lying” as part of
the investigation to reduce his allotted prison time.

“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me
(unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred
by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things
unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time.
Using Crooked’s lawyer!” Trump tweeted, noting that Cohen was
represented by longtime Clinton ally Lanny Davis.

Cohen has been under criminal investigation as part of a grand
jury probe into his personal business dealings, including his tax
business and bank fraud, since April, when the FBI raided his home,
office, and hotel room to seize a collection of documents as part
of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New
York’s criminal probe.

In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion,
one count of making false statements to a financial institution,
one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution,
and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution. The
excessive campaign contribution was regarding the $130,000 payment
made to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in
the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange
for her silence about an alleged one-time sexual encounter with
Trump.

Trump denied in April that he knew anything about Cohen’s
payments to Daniels, though the explanations from the president and
his attorney Rudy Giuliani have shifted several times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.