Michael Cohen settles lawsuit against Trump Org just ahead of trial

Michael Cohen has settled his lawsuit against the Trump Organization for an undisclosed amount, avoiding a trial that was set to begin Monday in New York state court.

Cohen, who served as former President Trump’s long-time fixer, had alleged the Trump Organization owed him roughly $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees Cohen owes to outside counsel in connection with various investigations and lawsuits.

Cohen filed the lawsuit in 2019, arguing he struck an oral agreement with the Trump Organization to be paid for his attorneys’ fees and costs arising from his work on behalf of the company, only for the Trump Organization to refuse reimbursement once Cohen turned against Trump.

Court spokesperson Lucian Chalfen said the parties didn’t announce the terms of the settlement, but Monday’s trial had been adjourned. Jurors were already selected for the trial.

The matter was “resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties,” Cohen attorney Lauren Handelsman told The Hill.

Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. 

Cohen says Trump stopped paying when he turned against him

Cohen’s lawsuit cemented his journey from Trump’s loyal fixer to enemy. He joined the Trump Organization almost two decades ago, serving as its longtime executive vice president and general counsel. Over the years, he gained a reputation as the real estate mogul’s “fixer.” 

As Trump campaigned for president, Cohen supported his bid on the airwaves and elsewhere. He infamously paid Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for their silence about affairs they claimed to have had with Trump, and Cohen has said Trump later provided reimbursement. Trump has denied the affairs.

When Trump was inaugurated, Cohen resigned from his position at the Trump Organization to serve as the president’s personal attorney. At one point, Cohen even said he “would take a bullet” for Trump.

Cohen in the months following incurred significant legal fees as the result of sprawling investigations, court filings show. He emerged as a person of interest in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential coordination between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government, as well as two congressional investigations.

The following year, the FBI raided Cohen’s office and residence as they investigated his business dealings, and Daniels sued Cohen by claiming violations of their nondisclosure agreement.

With his legal problems expanding, Cohen turned on Trump in June 2018. In court filings, Cohen said he began telling friends and family at that time he would cooperate with Mueller’s investigation and the federal investigation into his business dealings. Trump then distanced himself from his longtime aide. Later in 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes and went on to serve jail time.

After he turned, Cohen claims the Trump Organization began refusing to pay his legal bills, a development that spurred the lawsuit.

And in the months since, Cohen has become a vociferous critic of the former president.

He regularly appears on national television to attack Trump and his business. In reference to his former boss, he also published a book titled “Revenge” and began a podcast called “Mea Culpa,” the Latin term for acknowledging one’s wrongdoing.

Cohen is also expected to be the star witness in Trump’s New York criminal trial, which centers on Trump’s reimbursements to Cohen after he made the hush money payments. Cohen’s guilty plea in part implicated the payments.

After Trump was indicted in the case, Trump sued Cohen, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that Cohen maliciously worked to acquire attention and wealth at Trump’s expense. That case is still months away from trial, according to court filings.

Cohen asked for damages surpassing $1M

Cohen sought more than $1.3 million from the Trump Organization, the amount he says he owes to three law firms — plus his current counsel — for fees linked to various legal issues involving the former president or his businesses. 

Those fees span from his criminal matters — which cost nearly $500,000 — to the New York investigation into a Trump charity and Mueller’s probe. It also includes fees tied to testimony Cohen gave to five congressional committees, including the judiciary committees in both chambers. 

According to court filings, Cohen says the law firm Petrillo Klein Boxer is owed $350,000; the firm Monico and Spevack is owed about $297,000; and the firm Davis Goldberg & Galper is owed $515,000.

Cohen also paid some $215,000 to his current counsel, the court filings say. 

In an effort to offset some of those fees himself, Cohen established a GoFundMe page called “Michael Cohen’s American Patriot Legal Firewall” to raise money for his legal battles with Trump — battles that Cohen said come at a “great cost, both emotionally and financially.”

“I will never be intimidated by Trump and will ensure accountability,” Cohen said in an April Twitter post sharing a link to the fundraiser. 

Trial was set to begin Monday

A jury of six men and three women were already empaneled to hear the case, which was set to begin Monday in Lower Manhattan. 

Cohen was expected to call multiple witnesses across four days, chief among them the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.

The younger Trump is the executive vice president of the Trump Organization and is expected to testify for about an hour regarding his “personal knowledge of facts relevant to Mr. Cohen’s claims,” including invoice approvals and legal payments, according to court filings. 

Trump’s other son, Eric, and Allen Weisselberg, Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, could have been called as rebuttal witnesses for Cohen, the filings show, but the former president was not expected to appear.

Trump Organization attorneys indicated they planned to call Cohen as one of their witnesses if he didn’t testify, plus attorneys from the law firms to which Cohen owes money.

Updated at 2:02 p.m.