Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Michael Cohen.
- President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen insisted Wednesday that he and "the Taxi King" were not business partners.
- Evgeny Freidman agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness as part of a plea deal he reached Tuesday.
- It was previously reported that Freidman managed Cohen's taxi medallions.
President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen insisted on Wednesday that he and "the Taxi King" Evgeny Freidman were not business partners, tweeting "#MediaWrongAgain" after The New York Times reported that, as a part of his plea deal, Freidman was cooperating with the government.
"'I am one of thousands of medallion owners who entrust management companies to operate my medallions according to the rules of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission," Cohen tweeted. "Gene Freidman and I are not partners and have never been partners in this business or any other. #MediaWrongAgain"
On Tuesday, The Times reported that Freidman, who was indicted on felony charges of criminal tax fraud and grand larceny last year by then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness as part of a plea deal with the state of New York.
"I plead guilty to a felony," Freidman said in a statement to The Times. "I am humbled and shamed. This is me taking responsibility for my actions. Michael is a dear, dear personal friend and a passive client, that's it. This is a very difficult day for myself and my family."
Though Cohen said in his tweet that he and Freidman were never business partners, previous reporting seems to contradict that.
In April, Bloomberg reported that Cohen, a significant operator in the taxi business, had more than $185,000 in state warrants for unpaid taxes on his taxi companies. At the time, Cohen claimed the taxes were not owed by him but by Freidman. Freidman, The Real Deal reported in February, managed Cohen's taxi medallions until last April.
Last February, The Real Deal reported on Cohen and Freidman's longstanding relationship, which began out of a small claims court battle two decades ago. Cohen helped named Freidman's son, Dylan, the publication reported.
The Times wrote that Freidman's cooperation could be used as leverage to get Cohen to work with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials. Freidman will avoid jail time under the agreement and will assist federal and state prosecutors in investigations, The Times reported.
Cohen is currently under criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York. He has not been charged with a crime. Mueller initially reviewed Cohen's conduct prior to referring it to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The upcoming court date in that case is set for next week.
The FBI raided Cohen's home, office, and hotel room last month, and those documents are currently undergoing a review, which is being overseen by a special master to determine what falls under attorney-client privilege and what can be used by the government in a potential prosecution of Cohen. Federal investigators sought Cohen's business documents in the raids.