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Trump Almost Completely Escapes Paying Cohen’s Legal Fees

Trump Almost Completely Escapes Paying Cohen’s Legal Fees

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump Organization doesn’t have to pay most of the legal fees racked up by the president’s former personal lawyer.

A state court judge in New York dismissed much of Michael Cohen’s lawsuit, in which he sought almost $4 million. The company had urged the judge to throw out the suit, claiming Cohen was just hoping to score a “payday.”

Trump Almost Completely Escapes Paying Cohen’s Legal Fees

On Wednesday, Justice Joel M. Cohen threw out most of the now-jailed lawyer’s claims, with the exception of costs he incurred for legal proceedings and investigations that were pending in July 2017. The judge allowed that part of the lawsuit to proceed.

The judge also threw out Cohen’s claim for reimbursement of his criminal fines and penalties. He said that if the company had agreed to cover those costs, the deal -- whether oral or in writing -- would be void because it’s against public policy.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Schneider in Los Angeles at jschneider5@bloomberg.net;Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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