Former personal lawyer and fixer for Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, has reached a settlement in his lawsuit against the Trump Organization. The lawsuit accused the organization of failing to cover millions of dollars in legal fees and costs incurred during Cohen’s work for the former U.S. president.
In a statement on Friday, Cohen expressed that “this matter has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties.” However, specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and the Trump Organization and its lawyers have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Initially, Cohen filed the lawsuit in March 2019 to recoup $1.9 million in fees, along with an additional $1.9 million ordered in a criminal case. The fees continued to grow, and the Trump Organization has already paid some of them, according to court documents.
A civil trial for the case was set to begin on July 24 in a New York state court in Manhattan.
Despite the settlement, Cohen is expected to be a significant prosecution witness against Trump in a criminal trial scheduled for next year. This particular case involves payments Cohen made, reimbursed by Trump, to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, to keep her silent about an alleged affair before the 2016 presidential election, which Trump denies.
Furthermore, Cohen is still facing a $500 million lawsuit from Trump in a Florida federal court, where Trump accuses him of divulging “confidences” and “spreading falsehoods” in books and media, damaging his reputation by calling him “racist.”
The settlement concludes Cohen’s claims that the Trump Organization ceased paying his bills when he started cooperating with investigations into his work for the former president. These investigations included inquiries into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and efforts to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump.
While Trump faces various legal issues, including a federal indictment over classified documents and potential charges related to his efforts to remain president after the 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, Cohen served a three-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and tax evasion. Parts of his sentence were served in prison, and the remainder in home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
