Michael Cohen, Prez Trump's former lawyer, sent back to federal prison because he "refused the conditions of his home confinement"

As reported in this new AP piece, "President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was returned to federal prison Thursday, weeks after his early release to serve the remainder of his sentence at home because of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal Bureau of Prisons said."  Here is more:

In a statement to The Associated Press, the Bureau of Prisons said Cohen had “refused the conditions of his home confinement and as a result, has been returned to a BOP facility.” His return to prison comes days after the New York Post published photos of him and his wife enjoying an outdoor meal with friends at a restaurant near his Manhattan home.

Roger Adler, one of Cohen's attorneys, called his jailing an “overly draconian response to what was at worst poor judgment.”  He said it was Cohen's belief that being on medical furlough “did not prohibit venturing beyond his apartment and dining out.”

“It's not a crime to eat out and support local businesses," Adler told the AP, adding Cohen had been “thrown back into a petri dish of coronavirus.”

Cohen, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress, had been released May 21 on furlough as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons. Cohen, 53, began serving his sentence in May 2019 and had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021.

Cohen’s convictions were related to crimes including dodging taxes on $4 million in income from his taxi business, lying during congressional testimony about the timing of discussions around an abandoned plan to build a Trump Tower in Russia, and orchestrating payments to two women to keep them from talking publicly about alleged affairs with Trump.  Prosecutors said the payments amounted to illegal campaign contributions.  Trump, who denied the affairs, said any payments were a personal matter....

A federal judge had denied Cohen’s attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a May ruling that it “appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle.” But the Bureau of Prisons can move prisoners to home confinement without a judicial order.

Intriguingly, this New York Daily News article, headlined "Michael Cohen arrested after refusing gov’t demand to not publish Trump book during sentence: friend," suggests that Cohen's decision to eat out at a restaurant is not the real reason he is headed back to federal prison:

Michael Cohen was thrown back into prison on Thursday after refusing to sign a home confinement agreement requiring him to not publish a tell-all book about President Trump for the duration of his sentence, according to Lanny Davis, his friend and former attorney.

Cohen was presented with the hush contract while sitting down with his probation officer in downtown Manhattan for a meeting that he expected to be about fitting an electronic surveillance bracelet to his ankle, Davis told reporters on a conference call.  In addition to not publishing a book, the agreement required Cohen to not talk to any media outlets for the remainder of his three-year sentence, according to Davis, who wasn’t present but said he got the play-by-play recounted to him by Cohen attorney Jeffrey Levine.

“That disturbed him because he pointed out that he could talk to the media when he was in Otisville — why not in home confinement?” Davis said, referring to the upstate New York prison where Cohen was doing hard time.  After making clear he would not sign, the probation officer left the room, Davis said.  “The next thing that they saw coming out of an elevator was three U.S. marshals holding shackles,” Davis continued....

“The next thing that happened is the marshals said they had an order signed by somebody from BOP and the order was to arrest him and put him in jail and they started to put shackles on him,” Davis said, using an acronym for the Bureau of Prisons.  Having a change of heart, Cohen told the marshals: “I’ll sign exactly what you want me to sign so I don’t have to go back to jail,” according to Davis. 

But the marshals didn’t budge, Davis said.  “It’s out of our hands,” one of them told Cohen, according to Davis. Davis said Cohen was taken to either the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan or the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

A spokesman for BOP confirmed Cohen had been taken into custody for having “refused the conditions of his home confinement,” but declined to elaborate.

Prior Michael Cohen posts:

• Michael Cohen, Prez Trump's fixer, cuts a plea deal to fix his federal sentence between 46 to 63 months in federal prison
• Prez Trump advocating for a whole new kind of sentencing reform: he says cooperation deals "almost ought to be outlawed. It’s not fair." 
• Michael Cohen, former lawyer to Prez trump, pleads guilty to lying to Congress 
• Michael Cohen makes pitch for "time-served and restitution to the IRS" based largely on his continuing cooperation
• Feds request for Michael Cohen a "substantial term of imprisonment" though with a "modest downward variance" from Guideline range of 51-63 months in prison 
• New letter from Prez Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, seeking sentence modification citing this blog's coronavirus coverage 
• Michael Cohen reportedly among those being moved by feds from prison to home confinement 
• Michael Cohen reportedly really getting released to home confinement now