Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen will be released after a three -year sentence

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Former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen will be released on Monday, after serving a three-year sentence split between house arrest and federal prison for tax evasion and campaign finance violations.

Mr Cohen, 55, who served as vice-president of the Trump Organization and Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, pleaded guilty in August 2018 to eight charges, including campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud. In November of that year, he entered another guilty plea for lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018, and overturned by the New York Supreme Court in 2019.

“I’m done Sunday night,” Mr. Cohen told Jeff Pegues in an interview on the CBS News podcast America: Changed Forever on Saturday. “Monday mainly in the morning, I’ll take myself to 500, Pearl Street, where I’ll take my release papers. I’m not 100 percent sure which floor, execute them and then I’ll be released.”

“I’m very close and I’m very grateful that I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving outside of my home,” Mr Cohen said. “But I’ve done 18 months in house arrest which has been very difficult.”

Mr Cohen reported to federal prison in May 2019 but was released in May 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns. He was told to serve the remainder of his sentence at home during the coronavirus pandemic. He was brought back to prison shortly in July 2020 after being denied his home confinement conditions.

A few weeks later, he was returned to house arrest after he filed a lawsuit alleging he was unfairly re -incarcerated. A federal judge has ruled that his re -incarceration in July 2020 was government retaliation for Mr Cohen’s detention with a proposed house arrest provision that could severely restrict his public communications.

The former president’s lawyer said he made himself busy with his podcasts, writing and by walking. “The most important thing is that you actually keep yourself busy, that you schedule yourself,” Mr Cohen said. “I’m just trying to keep myself busy until I’m free to start my life again.”

Mr Cohen admitted that he quietly sent money to adult film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal for their alleged affairs with the former president. He also admitted lying to lawmakers about his efforts to get financing from the Russian government for a Trump development project in Moscow. He was ordered to pay nearly $ 2m in fines, forfeitures and restitution.

After his sentencing in 2018, Mr Cohen said his “blind loyalty” to Mr Trump led him to “choose the path of darkness rather than light”.

Mr Cohen’s association with the former president began in 2006 after Mr Trump’s successful tenure on the television show The Apprentice. He served as Mr Trump’s personal attorney between 2006 and 2018, and is considered a close ally of the former president.

In September 2020, he released a “tell-all” book about Mr Trump called Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J Trump.

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