Federal prosecutors urged a judge on Monday to reject Michael Cohen’s bid to be released from prison and placed in home confinement because of the coronavirus threat in federal lockups.
In a letter to Judge William Pauley, prosecutors with the Southern District of New York argued Cohen’s request failed to explain why his circumstances are any different than every other inmate in the federal prison system.
“Cohen has not even attempted to argue that he is uniquely at risk as compared to other inmates. Nor could he: He is 53 years old and in good health. As such, Cohen’s claim applies equally to every inmate in the BOP’s care (or at least every non-violent inmate),” they wrote.
In his appeal to be released, Cohen’s lawyers wrote the Federal Bureau of Prisons is “demonstrably incapable of safeguarding and treating B.O.P. inmates who are obliged to live in close quarters and are at an enhanced risk of catching the virus.”
In their response, prosecutors argued he “offered no valid legal basis upon which his claim might be granted.”
The federal prison system’s first confirmed case was revealed Sunday — an inmate in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Cohen — who is cooling his heels at the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville upstate — is serving three years for violating campaign finance laws while working for Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
Cohen admitted to arranging hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. Both women have claimed they had affairs with Trump, which the commander-in-chief denies.



