Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen settles lawsuit against Trump Organisation

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK – Michael Cohen, the one-time personal lawyer and fixer for Donald Trump, has settled his lawsuit accusing the Trump Organisation of failing to cover millions of dollars of legal fees and costs he incurred over his work for the former US president.

In a statement on Friday, Mr Cohen said “this matter has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties”.

The Trump Organisation and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Mr Cohen originally sued in March 2019 to recoup US$1.9 million (S$2.5 million) in fees, plus US$1.9 million he was ordered to forfeit in a criminal case. The fees kept growing, and the Trump Organisation has paid some of them, court papers show.

A trial in the civil case had been scheduled to begin on Monday in a New York state court in Manhattan.

Mr Cohen is now a vocal Trump critic. His 2020 memoir Disloyal was a New York Times bestseller.

Despite Friday’s settlement, Mr Cohen is expected to be a star prosecution witness against Trump in a criminal trial in 2024.

That case concerns

payments Mr Cohen made, and which Trump reimbursed, to porn star Stormy Daniels

to keep her quiet prior to the 2016 presidential election about her alleged affair with Trump, which he denies.

Mr Cohen also still faces

a US$500 million lawsuit from Trump

in a Florida federal court, where Trump accused him of revealing “confidences” and “spreading falsehoods” in books and media, and damaging his reputation by calling him “racist”.

Friday’s settlement resolves Mr Cohen’s claims that the Trump Organisation stopped paying his bills after he began cooperating with several probes into his work for the former president.

These included inquiries into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Trump’s efforts to silence women who claimed they had affairs with him.

Trump, a Republican who is again seeking the presidency,

faces many other legal problems.

These include

a federal indictment over classified documents he took

from the White House, and possible charges over his efforts to remain president after his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Mr Cohen served a three-year sentence,

partially in prison and partially in home confinement because of the Covid-19 pandemic, after pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and tax evasion. REUTERS