Cohen has a lucrative side venture in the taxi business, teaming up separately with two Ukrainian-born New York City cab kingpins known for their run-ins with the law. His first partner, Simon Garber, has a long rap sheet that included charges for filing a false police report, trespassing and driving while intoxicated, according to the New York Observer. Garber’s company, Yellow Cab SLSJET Management Corp., was once fined $1.6 million by the New York state attorney general for illegally charging drivers “late fees.” Then there’s Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, also known as “The Taxi King,” who’s been accused of sexual harassment and owed some $13 million in taxes from his cab business, per the New York Daily News.
It’s unclear exactly how Cohen entered the taxi business and first linked up with Garber. But he’s told the Wall Street Journal that Garber was a legal client of his and that they were partners in the taxi business until the early 2000s, at which point he said he sold Garber his stake in their company, relinquishing control of the operations and fleet. After that Garber continued to manage some of the more than 15 taxi medallion companies owned by Cohen, which had playful names like Smoochie Cab Corp and Lady Laura Hacking Corp.
The arrangement devolved into a legal dispute in 2012 when Garber filed a claim with the American Arbitration Association, accusing Cohen, who’d cited neglected insurance payments from a number of accidents involving SLSJET drivers in abruptly cutting ties with the company, of breaching his contract. Cohen, along with his wife, Laura, and his mother-in-law, Ania Shusterman, went to New York State Supreme Court to try to stay the proceedings, saying the original contract they agreed to with Garber contained no arbitration agreement.
In the claim, Garber charged that Cohen “unilaterally” drafted a second contract that contained arbitration language. He further alleged that Cohen went to his home while he was “travelling on business” and “manipulated” Garber’s wife into signing that second contract. A judge ultimately ruled against the Cohens, and the claim went into private arbitration. It’s unclear how the dispute was resolved.
Couscous on
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
SCOOP: ABC News has learned Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. He had no role in raid of Cohen's office. Another recusal that will make @realDonaldTrump unhappy.
So Berman didn't approve the warrant then?
Berman is a US attorney aka a prosecutor. A judge would have to grant the warrant. Prosecutors make cases for warrants to judges.
Also attorney-client privilege is a procedural rule, it's not in the constitution, all this hand waiving about the deep state shredding the constitution with this violation. I am just sad about the state of our education.
As well as the fact that it's not immune to being broken under the right circumstances, like lawyers breaking the law.
And it takes a lot to convince a judge that it is worth risking. Even just for random lawyer dude, let alone the President's personal lawyer.
And this isn't some "obviously compromised partisan leftist" judge. As others have said, it's a Trump supporter who is (at least prior to this) Trump’s nominee for the seat.
That's not to day this guy is compromised (obviously not, given the decision to approve the warrants), but you don't get a more favorable set of factors for a case than this. And the judge HAD to know this could severely impact his career.
And yet he saw the evidence and heard the testimony of the FBI, and granted the warrant anyway.
Wonder if he's going to be a pariah with conservative media now, for apparently following the rule of law. It's sad that THAT is a failure point for Republicans now.
These f'n guys.
You can't be a Republican and follow the rule of law. You would have to turn on the party and/or get run out on a rail. This is what this is all coming to. Trump and his cronies are criminals but they don't wanna be investigated and will fight against it in every form and the party can't stop backing them, so this is what it comes to.
SCOOP: ABC News has learned Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. He had no role in raid of Cohen's office. Another recusal that will make @realDonaldTrump unhappy.
Can we get some info here on who this person is and why they've recused themselves?
Here's what google says searching for his name:
"Geoffrey Steven Berman is an American lawyer currently serving as the Interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. President Donald Trump reportedly intends to nominate him to permanently serve in the position."
That's a pretty clear conflict.
Oh god can you imagine if Trump changes his mind because of this?
More info on what was involved with the Cohen warrant: info about the two women (one is Stormy, the other is McDougal) claiming affairs and the role of the Enquirer.
Cohen has a lucrative side venture in the taxi business, teaming up separately with two Ukrainian-born New York City cab kingpins known for their run-ins with the law. His first partner, Simon Garber, has a long rap sheet that included charges for filing a false police report, trespassing and driving while intoxicated, according to the New York Observer. Garber’s company, Yellow Cab SLSJET Management Corp., was once fined $1.6 million by the New York state attorney general for illegally charging drivers “late fees.” Then there’s Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, also known as “The Taxi King,” who’s been accused of sexual harassment and owed some $13 million in taxes from his cab business, per the New York Daily News.
It’s unclear exactly how Cohen entered the taxi business and first linked up with Garber. But he’s told the Wall Street Journal that Garber was a legal client of his and that they were partners in the taxi business until the early 2000s, at which point he said he sold Garber his stake in their company, relinquishing control of the operations and fleet. After that Garber continued to manage some of the more than 15 taxi medallion companies owned by Cohen, which had playful names like Smoochie Cab Corp and Lady Laura Hacking Corp.
The arrangement devolved into a legal dispute in 2012 when Garber filed a claim with the American Arbitration Association, accusing Cohen, who’d cited neglected insurance payments from a number of accidents involving SLSJET drivers in abruptly cutting ties with the company, of breaching his contract. Cohen, along with his wife, Laura, and his mother-in-law, Ania Shusterman, went to New York State Supreme Court to try to stay the proceedings, saying the original contract they agreed to with Garber contained no arbitration agreement.
In the claim, Garber charged that Cohen “unilaterally” drafted a second contract that contained arbitration language. He further alleged that Cohen went to his home while he was “travelling on business” and “manipulated” Garber’s wife into signing that second contract. A judge ultimately ruled against the Cohens, and the claim went into private arbitration. It’s unclear how the dispute was resolved.
I was wondering if all this might be related to the charges of physical threats and intimidation against Cohen from Daniels. If there were credible information that he was using physical intimidation/extortion to get people to sign documents and evidence of this had come to light, that would absolutely be the kind of thing that would justify these kinds of warrants(which a normal election law violation probably would not), and would explain the taxi cab connection.
Edit: or perhaps Cohen has been running some kind of backdoor bribery/quid pro quo with an arbitration agency and this is connected? In any case I feel like there is more here than campaign finance violations which are usually just FEC matters.
Is there a reason why Berman is recused from the investigation?
Pretty sure he was appointed directly by Trump.
He was appointed by Sessions, technically, but reportedly personally interviewed and approved by Trump. Not sure if Session's recusal somehow flows to him?
Cohen has a lucrative side venture in the taxi business, teaming up separately with two Ukrainian-born New York City cab kingpins known for their run-ins with the law. His first partner, Simon Garber, has a long rap sheet that included charges for filing a false police report, trespassing and driving while intoxicated, according to the New York Observer. Garber’s company, Yellow Cab SLSJET Management Corp., was once fined $1.6 million by the New York state attorney general for illegally charging drivers “late fees.” Then there’s Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, also known as “The Taxi King,” who’s been accused of sexual harassment and owed some $13 million in taxes from his cab business, per the New York Daily News.
It’s unclear exactly how Cohen entered the taxi business and first linked up with Garber. But he’s told the Wall Street Journal that Garber was a legal client of his and that they were partners in the taxi business until the early 2000s, at which point he said he sold Garber his stake in their company, relinquishing control of the operations and fleet. After that Garber continued to manage some of the more than 15 taxi medallion companies owned by Cohen, which had playful names like Smoochie Cab Corp and Lady Laura Hacking Corp.
The arrangement devolved into a legal dispute in 2012 when Garber filed a claim with the American Arbitration Association, accusing Cohen, who’d cited neglected insurance payments from a number of accidents involving SLSJET drivers in abruptly cutting ties with the company, of breaching his contract. Cohen, along with his wife, Laura, and his mother-in-law, Ania Shusterman, went to New York State Supreme Court to try to stay the proceedings, saying the original contract they agreed to with Garber contained no arbitration agreement.
In the claim, Garber charged that Cohen “unilaterally” drafted a second contract that contained arbitration language. He further alleged that Cohen went to his home while he was “travelling on business” and “manipulated” Garber’s wife into signing that second contract. A judge ultimately ruled against the Cohens, and the claim went into private arbitration. It’s unclear how the dispute was resolved.
Wait... the judge ruled against the arbitration clause, and so the case went to arbitration? Huh?
Has there been any speculation of the Trump tower fire being the reason for the "no notice" raid on Cohen? Fire is one of the best ways to destroy evidence.
Has there been any speculation of the Trump tower fire being the reason for the "no notice" raid on Cohen? Fire is one of the best ways to destroy evidence.
The man who lived and died there had nothing to do with Trump.
Is there a reason why Berman is recused from the investigation?
Pretty sure he was appointed directly by Trump.
He was appointed by Sessions, technically, but reportedly personally interviewed and approved by Trump. Not sure if Session's recusal somehow flows to him?
I think the recusal is just down to Berman being a Trump donor. From what I’ve read, he donated the maximum amount allowed to the Trump campaign.
I really, really, really really, really, REALLY want to know what the evidence was that got the search warrant ordered on this.
It has to have been absolutely, devastatingly, smoking-guningly incredible.
FBI raids on Trump associates are like teaser trailers. They hype you, but they're fucking annoying because you don't get to see anything and just have to wait.
Is there a reason why Berman is recused from the investigation?
Pretty sure he was appointed directly by Trump.
He was appointed by Sessions, technically, but reportedly personally interviewed and approved by Trump. Not sure if Session's recusal somehow flows to him?
I think the recusal is just down to Berman being a Trump donor. From what I’ve read, he donated the maximum amount allowed to the Trump campaign.
You know, these people could save themselves a serious headache if they'd just stop stumping for the fucking obvious criminals in the first place.
SCOOP: ABC News has learned Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. He had no role in raid of Cohen's office. Another recusal that will make @realDonaldTrump unhappy.
Can we get some info here on who this person is and why they've recused themselves?
Here's what google says searching for his name:
"Geoffrey Steven Berman is an American lawyer currently serving as the Interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. President Donald Trump reportedly intends to nominate him to permanently serve in the position."
That's a pretty clear conflict.
Also he doesn't want to be involved in this shit show.
Even without impeachment this investigation is ending careers. There is a lot of incentive to not be attached to anything about this radioactive mess.
Cohen has a lucrative side venture in the taxi business, teaming up separately with two Ukrainian-born New York City cab kingpins known for their run-ins with the law. His first partner, Simon Garber, has a long rap sheet that included charges for filing a false police report, trespassing and driving while intoxicated, according to the New York Observer. Garber’s company, Yellow Cab SLSJET Management Corp., was once fined $1.6 million by the New York state attorney general for illegally charging drivers “late fees.” Then there’s Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, also known as “The Taxi King,” who’s been accused of sexual harassment and owed some $13 million in taxes from his cab business, per the New York Daily News.
It’s unclear exactly how Cohen entered the taxi business and first linked up with Garber. But he’s told the Wall Street Journal that Garber was a legal client of his and that they were partners in the taxi business until the early 2000s, at which point he said he sold Garber his stake in their company, relinquishing control of the operations and fleet. After that Garber continued to manage some of the more than 15 taxi medallion companies owned by Cohen, which had playful names like Smoochie Cab Corp and Lady Laura Hacking Corp.
The arrangement devolved into a legal dispute in 2012 when Garber filed a claim with the American Arbitration Association, accusing Cohen, who’d cited neglected insurance payments from a number of accidents involving SLSJET drivers in abruptly cutting ties with the company, of breaching his contract. Cohen, along with his wife, Laura, and his mother-in-law, Ania Shusterman, went to New York State Supreme Court to try to stay the proceedings, saying the original contract they agreed to with Garber contained no arbitration agreement.
In the claim, Garber charged that Cohen “unilaterally” drafted a second contract that contained arbitration language. He further alleged that Cohen went to his home while he was “travelling on business” and “manipulated” Garber’s wife into signing that second contract. A judge ultimately ruled against the Cohens, and the claim went into private arbitration. It’s unclear how the dispute was resolved.
SPECULATION:
So if we're assuming the taxi medallion stuff is a criminal activity, then that seems most likely to be smuggling
Michael Cohen is basically Saul Goodman with half a brain and completely lacking what little conscience Saul has
Which leads to the question of how much personal legal jeopardy he needs to be in before he will try to cut a deal and squeal on Trump.
Could go either way. It depends on whether he has an instinct for self-preservation or if there's some reason cutting a deal that incriminates Trump would put him in greater jeopardy.
I would say it also heavily depends on how close he is to the whole Russia fiasco.
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Oh man, I haven’t even considered that as a possibility.
What would happen if Cohen flips on Trump?
Jesus Christ, that would be historic. Like, Mad Max historic.
He's been arrested for something outside of that investigation. The only possible flip that could happen is if Cohen could prove Trump is involved in the bank fraud.
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
lawsuits for what? violating an NDA that he's publicly stated doesn't exist?
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
lawsuits for what? violating an NDA that he's publicly stated doesn't exist?
It's not whether he'll win, it's how long he can tie her up in court with all those legal fees.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
lawsuits for what? violating an NDA that he's publicly stated doesn't exist?
Him lying to the public doesn't make an NDA go away. It may make it difficult to enforce, but he could conceivably ruin her financially before it got to that point in court.
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Because even though the NDA is BS, it hasn't been recognized as such by the courts. Mainly because they haven't had a chance to rule on it yet.
BTW, here's Stormy's lawyer commenting on attorney-client privilege:
People have mentioned before that the payouts to Stormy Daniels probably broke the law. Unfortunately, I don't really see how campaign finance laws would be enough to justify seizing evidence from a lawyer. Especially since this is being handled at the state level.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
lawsuits for what? violating an NDA that he's publicly stated doesn't exist?
It's not whether he'll win, it's how long he can tie her up in court with all those legal fees.
ok but there is no case to be tied up. he's already killed it.
edit: what would the case even look like?
trump: "your honor, I've never asked the plaintiff to sign an NDA, but she's not allowed to talk anyway."
judge: "ummm no. dismissed."
Posts
I did not know he had a taxi cab medallion business and haven't heard any potential scandals about that so this is interesting.
Edit: From last June:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/michael-cohen-business-family-ties-ukraine
Berman is a US attorney aka a prosecutor. A judge would have to grant the warrant. Prosecutors make cases for warrants to judges.
IANAL.
You can't be a Republican and follow the rule of law. You would have to turn on the party and/or get run out on a rail. This is what this is all coming to. Trump and his cronies are criminals but they don't wanna be investigated and will fight against it in every form and the party can't stop backing them, so this is what it comes to.
I don't think being appointed by Trump is reason enough in of itself to recuse yourself. Rosenstein was appointed by Trump.
Schimdt is a NYTimes reporter.
I was wondering if all this might be related to the charges of physical threats and intimidation against Cohen from Daniels. If there were credible information that he was using physical intimidation/extortion to get people to sign documents and evidence of this had come to light, that would absolutely be the kind of thing that would justify these kinds of warrants(which a normal election law violation probably would not), and would explain the taxi cab connection.
Edit: or perhaps Cohen has been running some kind of backdoor bribery/quid pro quo with an arbitration agency and this is connected? In any case I feel like there is more here than campaign finance violations which are usually just FEC matters.
He was appointed by Sessions, technically, but reportedly personally interviewed and approved by Trump. Not sure if Session's recusal somehow flows to him?
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
Wait... the judge ruled against the arbitration clause, and so the case went to arbitration? Huh?
It has to have been absolutely, devastatingly, smoking-guningly incredible.
If you're wondering who this dude is, check out his last name. That's not a coincidence. He's the husband.
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The man who lived and died there had nothing to do with Trump.
Conway has gone Twitter rogue and it's delicious
Link? I can't find her account.
I think the recusal is just down to Berman being a Trump donor. From what I’ve read, he donated the maximum amount allowed to the Trump campaign.
FBI raids on Trump associates are like teaser trailers. They hype you, but they're fucking annoying because you don't get to see anything and just have to wait.
Sorry, George Conway, Kelly's husband has gone Twitter rogue.
You know, these people could save themselves a serious headache if they'd just stop stumping for the fucking obvious criminals in the first place.
Even without impeachment this investigation is ending careers. There is a lot of incentive to not be attached to anything about this radioactive mess.
One might say Muller is draining the swamp.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
I think it means 'saying a lot of random, unfounded, stupid crap on twitter. basically he's just replicating the entire gop's collective twitter
edit: unless I'm mistaken and he's actually stating fact and backing it up with additional fact. I guess that would be gop twitter rogue
I thought it meant "Completely detoothing your Wife's boss's (Who is the US President) argument in full face of the public."
The thing he posted was the legal play-by-play for searching the premises of a lawyer, if I understand it correctly.
oh gotcha
I read through it but didn't see anything else so I figured there was some rant that I wasn't privy to
He seems to be criticizing the Trump administration (announcement of $1T deficit, etc)
SPECULATION:
So if we're assuming the taxi medallion stuff is a criminal activity, then that seems most likely to be smuggling
Possibly drug and/or sex delivery service as well
Which leads to the question of how much personal legal jeopardy he needs to be in before he will try to cut a deal and squeal on Trump.
Could go either way. It depends on whether he has an instinct for self-preservation or if there's some reason cutting a deal that incriminates Trump would put him in greater jeopardy.
I would say it also heavily depends on how close he is to the whole Russia fiasco.
But something I haven't considered before: What if there's evidence that Cohen did extremely shady shit in order to acquire the $130,000 in the first place? Of course, the fact that Cohen would be willing to do something highly illegal is nothing new. But the prosecutors would have to present hard evidence of this being the case.
What would happen if Cohen flips on Trump?
Jesus Christ, that would be historic. Like, Mad Max historic.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
I still don't understand why stormy danials is acting as if there is an NDA. Trump got on tv and proclaimed he knew nothing of the sort. If he wasn't party to the NDA, than there is no NDA.
Doesn't mean Trump can't ruin her financially with lawsuits
Josh Campbell is a former FBI agent
Cohen is up to his eyeballs in shit
lawsuits for what? violating an NDA that he's publicly stated doesn't exist?
It's not whether he'll win, it's how long he can tie her up in court with all those legal fees.
Because even though the NDA is BS, it hasn't been recognized as such by the courts. Mainly because they haven't had a chance to rule on it yet.
BTW, here's Stormy's lawyer commenting on attorney-client privilege:
Trump attorney will 'fold like a cheap deck of cards,' Daniels lawyer says
ok but there is no case to be tied up. he's already killed it.
edit: what would the case even look like?
trump: "your honor, I've never asked the plaintiff to sign an NDA, but she's not allowed to talk anyway."
judge: "ummm no. dismissed."