Prosecutors Recommend Cohen Serve 'Substantial' Prison Time Of Around 4 Years

    Federal prosecutors recommend that President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen face "substantial" prison time of roughly four years. "Cohen, an attorney, and businessman committed four distinct federal crimes over a period of several years. He was motivated to do so by personal greed and repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends," The document read.

   "Now he seeks extraordinary leniency – a sentence of no jail time – based principally on his rose-colored view of the seriousness of the crimes; his claims to a sympathetic personal history; and his provision of certain information to law enforcement," The document read. 

  "But the crimes committed by Cohen were more serious than his submission allows and were marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional life (and was evidently hidden from the friends and family members who wrote on his behalf)," It continued. Michael Cohen committed four crimes: Making false statements to Congress, Willful tax evasion, and making false statements to a financial institution. 

  "First, Cohen’s commission of two campaign finance crimes on the eve of the 2016 election for President of the United States struck a blow to one of the core goals of the federal campaign finance laws: transparency. While many Americans who desired a particular outcome to the election knocked on doors, toiled at phone banks or found any number of other legal ways to make their voices heard, Cohen sought to influence the election from the shadows," The document added.

  He did so by orchestrating secret and illegal payments to silence two women who otherwise would have made public their alleged extramarital affairs with Individual-1. In the process, Cohen deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election," The document continued.