Cohen To Get "Substantial Prison Time" For "Serious" Crimes Despite Cooperation With Mueller

While prosecutors concede that Cohen did provide information to law enforcement, "including information that assisted the Special Counsel’s Office in ongoing matters" -which they agree is a factor to be considered by the Court, they add that "Cohen’s description of those efforts is overstated in some respects and incomplete in others."

And while the document notes that Cohen "should receive credit for his assistance in the SCO investigation," what is even more surprising is that "the credit given to Cohen should not approximate the credit a traditional cooperating witness would receive, "given Cohen’s affirmative decision not to become one."

"For these reasons, the Office respectfully requests that this Court impose a substantial term of imprisonment, one that reflects a modest downward variance from the applicable Guidelines range" which was defined as a range of 51 to 63 months’ imprisonment.

Still, prosecutors did say Cohen has taken "significant steps to mitigate his criminal conduct", although whether Cohen will be happy with the consequences - namely one very pissed off president - remains to be seen.

What is also notable from the late day filing, is that Federal Prosecutors for the first time also said that Cohen committed campaign finance crimes "in coordination with and at the direction of [Donald Trump, aka Individual-1]", to wit:

During the campaign, Cohen played a central role in two similar schemes to purchase the rights to stories – each from women who claimed to have had an affair with Individual-1 – so as to suppress the stories and thereby prevent them from influencing the election. With respect to both payments, Cohen acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. Cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments. In particular, and as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1. As a result of Cohen’s actions, neither woman spoke to the press prior to the election

Meanwhile, in a separate sentencing filing released Friday, Mueller and his team refused to take a position on what amount of prison time Cohen should serve, but stated that "any sentence of incarceration" the court in New York recommends would be "appropriate."

Read the full pdf filing here.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-07/cohen-get-substantial-prison-time-despite-cooperation-mueller