Michael Cohen settles legal fees dispute with Trump Organization

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Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen has settled his lawsuit against the Trump Organization over $1.9m (£1.5m) in unpaid legal fees.

Cohen, 56, sued the company in 2019, alleging it stopped paying his bills after he began cooperating with investigations into its business.

A civil trial over the dispute was due to begin on Monday, with jurors selected and sworn in this week.

Lawyers for both sides told the court on Friday that the matter was resolved.

The settlement is yet to be finalised and its terms will remain “confidential”, the two parties said.

“A resolution was disclosed in court this morning,” Cohen’s lawyer Hunter Winstead told the BBC. “The matter has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties.”

The BBC has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment.

Opening arguments in the case were set to start Monday, and Mr Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr and Trump Organization executive vice president Alan Garten were expected to testify.

Cohen worked for the ex-president’s real estate business from 2006 until 2018, when he began giving evidence in a special counsel probe into alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election.

In cooperating with investigators, he also pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and fraud related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, though he eventually spent most of it in home confinement due to the pandemic.

Once a close ally and personal fixer to the ex-president, Cohen has been a thorn in his side ever since.

In a 2019 lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, he accused the Trump Organization of breaching its contract with him.

He alleged they had signed an indemnification agreement, in which the company agreed it would pay all of his fees and costs in connection with cases related to the company.

But despite written requests for reimbursement, the company had not covered his legal costs since May 2018, or the fines, forfeiture and restitution related to his guilty plea, he claimed.

Attorneys for the Trump Organization have argued Cohen’s criminal conduct and cooperation with investigators violated the agreement.

A separate lawsuit filed earlier this year by Mr Trump against Cohen in Florida federal court, for “spreading falsehoods” about him, remains active.

Cohen is also expected to be the star witness in the New York criminal case early next year over the payments to Ms Daniels.