Evgeny Freidman, a Russian immigrant who is known as the Taxi
King, will avoid jail time and will assist government
prosecutors in state or federal investigations, the newspaper
report said, citing a person briefed on the matter.
The New York State Attorney General's Office said in a press
release that Freidman had pleaded guilty to a criminal charge on
Tuesday in an Albany, New York, courtroom, but it made no
mention of whether he was cooperating with prosecutors.
Freidman has been Cohen's partner in the taxi business for
years, even after New York City regulators barred Freidman last
year from continuing to manage taxi medallions, the New York
Times said.
Freidman, when asked by Reuters about the report, declined in a
text message to answer any questions about cooperating with
prosecutors or the terms of his agreement.
"This is me taking responsibility for my actions! ... Michael is
a dear dear personal friend and a passive client! That's it!
...I hate that I have been grouped in this runaway train that I
am not a part of!" Freidman said by text.
Freidman's lawyer, Patrick Egan, declined to comment on the
Times report.
Freidman had been accused of failing to pay more than $5 million
in taxes and five other criminal counts each carrying maximum
prison sentences of up to 25 years. In pleading guilty to a
single count of criminal tax fraud, Freidman will be sentenced
to five years' probation, the attorney general's office said.
A spokeswoman for the New York state attorney general did not
immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Cohen
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Cohen for
possible bank and tax fraud, possible campaign law violations
and perhaps other matters related to Trump's presidential
campaign, a person familiar with the probe has said.
The investigation into Cohen arose in part from Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's inquiry into possible collusion between Trump's
2016 presidential campaign and Russia, something that Trump has
repeatedly denied.
(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; editing by Grant McCool
and Cynthia Osterman)
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