Michael Cohen back in Otisville prison in solitary confinement
President Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen was transferred back to Otisville prison and is being held in a 14-day solitary confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic, his lawyer said Friday.
Cohen was moved from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to the central New York prison after his arrest at the federal courthouse in Manhattan Thursday morning, Cohen’s attorney Jeff Levine said.
“Unbeknownst to me and his family, it happened last night,” Levine told The Post, adding that Cohen’s relatives are “devastated” by his incarceration.
Cohen was arrested Thursday after he refused to agree to one of the stipulations to a home confinement agreement, which would have barred him from speaking to the press and blocked him from publishing a tell-all book that he’s been writing while behind bars in Otisville.
Levine said Friday he and Cohen were having a “dialogue” with probation officials about the terms of his home confinement when he was taken into custody for not agreeing to the first term.
His arrest comes after a photograph of Cohen dining out with his wife and another couple at a French restaurant on the Upper East Side was published on Page One of The Post. Cohen had been released from prison on furlough because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Levine did not deny the exclusive photo may have influenced federal authorities’ decision to take Cohen back into custody.
“It seems to be influenced by the optics of what happened that night,” Levine said, adding that he believes Cohen did not violate his furlough agreement by dining out.