Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen taken back into federal custody

Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for President Donald Trump, was taken back into federal custody Thursday and is returning to prison, his lawyer said.

Cohen was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals after arriving at a New York federal court Thursday morning to sign home confinement documents, said his lawyer Jeffrey Levine.

Levine said authorities told Cohen he had failed to consent to the monitoring agreement following his release from prison due to COVID-19 related safety concerns.

Law enforcement officials said Cohen refused to sign documents prohibiting him from interacting with the media or writing a book. He was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., the officials said.

The Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The development comes days after Cohen was photographed at a restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The image was splashed across the cover of the New York Post.

Cohen was released from federal prison in May. He was serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to a number of charges including campaign finance fraud.

Cohen was initially set to be released from federal lockup in Otisville, New York, in November 2021. He had served just over a year of his sentence when he was released early.