Michael Cohen pleads guilty to evading income tax, lying to financial institutions and unlawful contributions

According to Bloomberg reporter Shannon Pettypiece, Michael Cohen has been charged with false statements to a financial institution, unlawful corporate campaign contribution and evading personal income tax.

Former US Attorney Barbara McQuaude noted it's likely that prosecutors haven't had time to go through all of the evidence from the materials gained from his office. However, prosecutors are likely willing to "lock him in" before walking through the information with him.

Court documents haven't yet been released from the court hearing, however, CNN Justice reporter Laura Jarrett tweeted she has been told the tax division of the IRS signed off on the deal with Cohen.

In a statement to the press, Robert Khuzami, deputy US attorney for the southern district of New York explained the counts as follows:

"Michael Cohen plead guilty to eight felony charges," he told the press. "Five of those dealt with tax evasion for the years 2012 through 2016, in which he failed to report $4.1 million in reported income. Approximately $2.5 million of that was interest payments from a personal loan he failed to report."

Khuzami said "approximately $1.3 million of that money was from the operation of his taxi medallion business," while $100,000 was from brokerage commissions. Over $200,000 was from consulting fees.

"That's over $4.3 million over a five-year period which translates into a loss to the United States Treasury of approximately $1.3 million," he continued. "In count six, he plead guilty to making false statements to a financial institution in connection with an application for an equity line of credit. In that application, he failed to disclose more than $14 million in debt that he had and as a result of that concealment, he obtained that $500,000 line of credit which he would not have been entitled to had he been candid and honest."