A federal judge declined to sanction Michael Cohen for citing fake cases generated by AI in a request to have his probation cut short, though he suggested Cohen may have committed perjury during testimony in former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial last year.
The ex-Trump lawyer admitted last year to using legal cases generated by AI in a request to have his ... [+]
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said he did not support imposing sanctions on Cohen or his attorney David Schwartz, suggesting there is “no basis” for questioning Cohen’s claim he believed the cases to be real, according to a filing in the Manhattan, New York court.
Cohen’s use of AI-generated cases was likely not “done in bad faith,” Furman wrote, adding Schwartz had reason to believe the cases were added to the court filing by Danya Perry, Cohen’s personal attorney.
Schwartz said in a court filing last year he believed Perry found the cases—which Cohen said he mistakenly generated through Gooogle Bard—and passed them on to Cohen, whom Perry said “did not appreciate” Bard’s “unreliability” for researching legal cases.
Cohen also likely committed perjury during Trump’s civil fraud trial in October, during which Cohen testified he lied when pleading guilty to tax evasion in 2018, claiming he never evaded taxes, Furman said.
Furman said of the incident: “Indeed, it would have been downright irrational for [Cohen] to provide fake cases for Schwartz to include in the motion knowing they were fake,” adding Schwartz citing the “non-existent cases is embarrassing and certainly negligent, perhaps even grossly negligent.”
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 after he was found guilty of evading $1.4 million in taxes, lying to Congress and committing finance violations. He started his prison sentence in May 2019, though it ended early in November 2021 when he was ordered to home confinement. Cohen has requested Furman lift his supervised release—which ends in November—four times, arguing he has a “commitment to upholding the law.” In December, Cohen, Schwartz and Perry admitted AI-generated cases were included in Cohen’s most recent request, which was terminated early. They said Cohen—who has been disbarred—used Google Bard to conduct legal research for his case, though the generative AI tool pulled up fake cases that Cohen believed were real.
Manhattan-based Judge Juan Merchan said Monday that Michael Cohen will be allowed to testify in Trump’s hush money case. Adult film star Stormy Daniels claims Cohen paid her $130,000 in 2016 to silence her allegations she had an affair with Trump. The trial is expected to begin in mid-April.
Michael Cohen’s Lawyer Cites Fake Cases In Early Probation Release Bid, Court Says (Forbes)
New York Lawyers Sanctioned For Using Fake ChatGPT Cases In Legal Brief (Reuters)