A Manhattan judge slammed Michael Cohen’s former lawyer Wednesday for citing fake cases generated by AI in court, the New York Post reported.
A federal judge criticized Cohen’s former lawyer for a major mistake that involved using fake, AI-generated legal cases in court papers, according to the New York Post. Despite the major blunder, Judge Jesse Furman decided not to punish Cohen’s lawyer, David Schwartz.
“His citation to non-existent cases is embarrassing and certainly negligent, perhaps even grossly negligent,” Furman said, according to the New York Post. “But the Court cannot find that it was done in bad faith.”
Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, said that he gave Schwartz fake legal cases from an AI service called Google Bard. Schwartz is no longer representing Cohen, however the mistake was discovered while trying to end Cohen’s supervised release. He was on supervised release because of his 2018 conviction for tax evasion and breaking campaign finance laws, the outlet reported.
Ex-Michael Cohen attorney who used AI in court docs made ‘embarrassing’ mistake: judge https://t.co/vy8oBxlP4t pic.twitter.com/IoeSiujPda
— New York Post (@nypost) March 20, 2024
Schwartz’s attorney, retired judge Barry Kamins, was relieved that the court saw the mistake as not intentional. “We are gratified that the court viewed the mistake as one that was not made in bad faith by Mr. Schwartz,” Kamins told the New York Post. (RELATED: Republican Reps File Criminal Complaint Against Michael Cohen For Comments He Made Under Oath)
Rejecting Cohen’s request for early release, Furman pointed out the inconsistencies in his statements, and suggested he might have lied, the New York Post reported.
Cohen’s lawyer, Danya Perry, saw the lack of punishment as a win but disagreed with the idea that Cohen lied under oath. Perry suggested that sometimes people plead guilty to crimes they didn’t do because of the pressure from plea deals, the New York Post reported.