Michael Cohen sues Trump Organization demanding it pay his legal fees
Michael Cohen sues Trump Organization demanding it pay ‘millions of dollars’ in legal fees AND the $1.9 million he has been sentenced to forfeit
- Trump’s ex-fixer sues the Trump Organization in New York state court saying it is on the hook for the legal costs incurred since he flipped on his ex-boss
- Cohen – who reports to federal prison in May – says he was indemnified for legal fees for ‘matters arising from his work for’ the organization and its bosses
- He says dealing with the Mueller probe, appearing in front of Congress and his defense team are all related to his work – and he owes $1.9 million in fees
- Most high-profile of his attorneys is ex-Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis who has been lightning rod for criticism by president himself
- And he says Trump should hand over the $1.9 million he has been ordered to forfeit as part of his sentence for lies and fraud, plus interest and costs
Donald Trump’s company should pay former fixer Michael Cohen millions of dollars in legal fees, despite him ratting out the president, Cohen claimed in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Cohen claims The Trump Organization agreed to an indemnification agreement which would pay him all legal fees but he was cut off as soon as he turned against the president in June last year.
Cohen claims the Trump Organization stiffed him and he is now left with a $1.9 million legal bill – on top of another $1.9 million he has had to forfeit.
‘All of these amounts were subject to the Trump Organization’s indemnification agreement,’ Cohen, who is a disbarred lawyer, claims.
The 22-page suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, claims Cohen’s main attorney is owed more than $1 million and others he has had to take on should receive more than $800,000.
See you in court: Michael Cohen is now suing his old boss’s organization for his legal fees
Suing: How Michael Cohen is pursuing the Trump Organization in a new filing demanding ‘millions’ in attorneys’ fees and his own costs
Counsel: Michael Cohen says his legal bill includes money owed to Lanny Davis, who was at his side throughout his four days of evidence to Congress. Trump has previously lashed out at long-time Clinton lawyer Lanny as being a supporter of ‘Crooked H’
Cohen, who is due to report to prison in May to start a three-year sentence for tax evasion and lying to Congress, says the Trump Organization stopped payments ‘without any reasonable basis.’
‘This action arises from the Trump Organization’s failure to meet its indemnification obligations under a contractual agreement,’ Cohen’s suit says.
‘(T)he 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 and its principals, directors and officers.’
He adds: ‘As a result of the Trump Organization’s unfounded refusal to meet its indemnification obligations under the indemnification agreement, Mr. Cohen has incurred millions of dollars in unreimbursed attorneys’ fees and costs, plus additional indemnifiable amounts, and continues to incur attorneys’ fees and costs in connection with various ongoing investigations and litigation.’
Cohen, 52, lists the actions which he says Trump should be paying his legal fees. They include his ‘ongoing’ appearances before House and Senate Committees.
He also says his lawyers are owed for work defending him against two lawsuits filed against him by porn star Stormy Daniels, for a restraining order to try to prevent federal officials reviewing evidence collected in raids on his home and office and for a subpoena issued by New York State in a case against Trump’s charitable foundation.
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He also says Trump should foot the bill for lawyers who met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and for his defense costs for the cases which will land him in jail.
He says the president should pay his defense costs because his crimes ‘arose from conduct undertaken by Mr. Cohen in furtherance of and at the behest of the Trump Organization…’
He said he wrote to the Trump Organization on January 25 asking for the money but has received no response.
Cohen says he appealed to Trump’s sons Don Jr. and Eric in late 2017 after bills from his law firm McDermott, Will & Emery began to pile up. All bills were paid through June 2018 — but then Trump stopped paying.
It was that month that Cohen split with Trump and soon after his lawyers said they could no longer work for him as their bills were going unpaid.
‘A total of $1,037,868.87 remains owed by the Trump Organization for McDermott’s services rendered to Mr. Cohen,’ the suit says.
Five other law firms — including the one headed by his latest lawyer Lanny Davis — are also owed money, Cohen claimed.
His move came shortly after Davis confirmed that the disgraced fixer asked him to discuss a presidential pardon after his 2018 arrest – apparently contradicting Cohen’s sworn testimony in a congressional hearing last week.
Cohen worked for President Donald Trump and his real estate company for more than a decade but turned on him last year, cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and a New York federal prosecutor.
Cohen told the House Oversight Committee last week: ‘I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump.’
But Davis told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that Cohen sought presidential clemency from Trump after FBI agents raided his home, office and hotel room.
Stephen Ryan (left) is the attorney who asked White House lawyers about clemency for his client Cohen last year while they were all sifting through Cohen’s documents to see what might be subject to attorney-client privilege
Trump’s free-wheeling personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani left the door open last year to a possible future pardon, even as White House lawyers ruled it out
The FBI served its search warrants on April 9, 2018, upending Cohen’s charmed life and sending a public signal that the special counsel probe could be circling the White House.
‘During that time period, he directed his attorney to explore possibilities of a pardon at one point with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as other lawyers advising President Trump,’ Davis said.
He described the discussions as amounting to an ‘ongoing ‘dangling’ of a possible pardon by Trump representatives privately and in the media.’
Facing criminal charges and hostile media, Cohen hired Davis to represent him in early July and changed his public position on pardons.
‘After July 2, 2018, Mr. Cohen authorized me as a new lawyer to say publicly Mr. Cohen would never accept a pardon from President Trump even if offered. That continues to be the case,’ Davis said Wednesday.
Now Davis, an established Washington-insider attorney, is claiming Cohen’s statement last week ‘was true – and consistent with his post-joint defense agreement commitment to tell the truth.’
At the time Ryan asked about a pardon, several White House lawyers dismissed the idea – but not Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
A lawyer representing disgraced former Trump attorney Michael Cohen approached White House lawyers about the possibility of a pardon last year, and the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani didn’t dismiss the idea.
Jay Sekulow and Joanna Hendon said they wouldn’t consider it; the famously free-wheeling Giuliaini, however, said the concept could win the president’s support in the future.
The topic came up while Ryan and attorneys for the president were working side-by-side to determine which of the documents in the FBI’s possession would be subject to attorney-client privilege.
Ryan left the impression in separate discussions with Trump Organization attorneys Alan Futerfas and Alan Garten that promise of a pardon would keep Cohen from cooperating with New York-based federal prosecutors.
Cohen has appeared on Capitol Hill four times since last week: once for the public hearing where he testified that he never asked for a presidential pardon, and three more times behind closed doors.
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