Michael Cohen Made Millions Selling Access To Trump, According To Mueller Report

New details are being revealed about the sentencing recommendations for Trump fixer Michael Cohen and the crimes the lawyer committed before turning on his former boss. Perhaps the most alarming accusation is how much money Cohen made selling access to his former boss.

The Daily Beast reports that yesterday prosecutors revealed the extent to which Michael Cohen cashed in on his insider relationship with Donald Trump and his administration. The report indicates that Cohen has pleaded guilty to eight counts that the one time Trump Organization attorney “sought to monetize” his relationship with the president just after his 2016 election victory.

Mueller’s memo released yesterday indicated that Cohen made over $4 million, but made overtures in an effort to make even more money by selling access to insiders, including Trump.

“Cohen successfully convinced numerous major corporations to retain him as a ‘consultant’ who could provide unique insights about and access to the new administration. Some of these corporations were then stuck making large up-front or periodic payments to Cohen, even though he provided little or no real services under these contracts. Bank records reflect that Cohen made more than $4 million dollars before the contracts were terminated.”

Federal prosecutors said for the first time Friday that Michael Cohen acted at the direction of Donald Trump when the former fixer committed two election-related crimes during the 2016 presidential campaign @CNN https://t.co/WMoyTiMsLA

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 8, 2018

Michael Cohen approached a wide variety of companies ranging from pharmaceutical enterprises like Novartis to telecom companies like AT&T. He is also linked to an investment fund linked to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

When investigators started turning the heat up on Cohen, he went from fair-haired boy to pariah quickly in the words and tweets of Donald Trump. “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!”

Now Michael Cohen is hoping that his cooperation with Robert Mueller’s team will temper what the report calls “a decades-long career marked by deception and greed.” The sentencing recommendation calls for Cohen to serve four to five years behind bars.

Editor’s note: this post has been amended to remove an attributed claim regarding Imaad Zuberi that has been disputed.