Michael Cohen Is ‘One Of The Most Popular Guys In Prison’
Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, departs his Manhattan apartment for prison on May 06, 2019 in New York City. Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Aiden Pink June 4, 2019
Michael Cohen’s three-year stint in federal prison seems to be off to a good start: The Daily Beast reported that Cohen’s fellow prisoners are flocking to him.
“People have been asking him for legal advice. He is one of the most popular guys in the prison. Many people have been approaching him for help,” a person close to Cohen told the Daily Beast. “He’s told friends that people have been super nice to him and he’s finding the whole experience not that bad. He’s been treated like a celebrity in there. People are coming up to him and asking about Trump and Stormy Daniels.”
Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer,” reported to the Otisville, New York Federal Correctional Institution on May 6 after pleading guilty to financial crimes in connection to payments to Daniels, the porn star who alleged that President Trump had an affair with her. Cohen once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, but turned in him in his guilty plea and in congressional testimony.
Cohen’s “celebrity status” would help him in prison, former Otisville inmate Lawrence Dressler told the Daily Beast. In fact, prisoners have tried to get photos of Cohen using contraband cell phones, according to “prison coach” Larry Levine, who has several clients currently at Otisville.
“I heard from guys inside that Cohen is doing OK,” said Dressler, who served 18 months for mortgage fraud. “He’s hanging around with the Jewish crowd. There’s been no drama with him.”
Otisville, about a two-hour drive from New York City, is often sought out by Jewish inmates because of its religious amenities — a full-time rabbi chaplain, kosher kitchen and weekly Shabbat services.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
