Former Trump staffer Michael Cohen’s petition for an early release from supervised custody included three cases – United States v. Figueroa-Florez, United States v. Ortiz, and United States v. Amato – which don’t even exist, explained U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman on Tuesday.
Cohen’s lawyer, David Schwartz, cited the cases for which the Court could find no records. One of the cases was even found to have an invalid docked number, leading the judge to demand Schwartz to submit copies of the stated cases by December 19th, or explain why he should not face sanctions. Judge Furman also urged further explanation regarding Cohen’s role in drafting or reviewing the motion and how it ended up with non-existent cases. Furman stated the decision on Cohen’s early termination of his supervised release would be postponed until the matters are resolved.
Cohen, once Donald Trump’s attorney and now an active critic, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after confessing to lying to Congress. After serving more than a year in jail and the rest of the sentence at home, he was released in 2021, with three more years of supervised release. E. Danya Perry, as newly affiliated Cohen lawyer, told the New York Times she couldn’t verify the cited case law after conducting her private research and informed Judge Furman of the matter. There has not been any comment from Schwartz on the judge’s order. Cohen is scheduled to testify in a criminal trial brought against Trump in March.