Trump ex-lawyer gets 3-yr jail on campaign charge

New York, December 12 

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for financial crimes and orchestrating hush payments to women before the 2016 election, telling the judge his “blind loyalty” led him to cover up for Trump.

The sentencing by US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan capped a stunning about-face by a lawyer who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump but has now implicated the Republican President in criminal conduct. Cohen said in his guilty plea in August he was directed by Trump to make hush money payments to two women who said they had sexual affairs with Trump in the past.

Trump has denied the affairs and any involvement in the payments.

The three-year sentence was a modest reduction from the four to five years recommended under federal guidelines, but still underscored the seriousness of the charges of violating campaign finance laws and seeking to influence the outcome of an election.

Pauley sentenced Cohen to 36 months for the payments and to two months for Cohen's lies to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia. The two terms will run simultaneously.

The judge set March 6 for Cohen's voluntary surrender.

As part of the sentence, the judge ordered Cohen to forfeit $500,000 and pay restitution of nearly $1.4 million.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August to charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations in a case brought by federal prosecutors in New York.

Cohen was sentenced on a separate charge of lying to Congress brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election and possible coordination between Trump's campaign and Moscow. — Reuters