I've just spent some time reading through Cohen's plea deal. There was something that caught my interest...
"In consideration of his plea to the above offenses, the defendant will not be further prosecuted criminally by this Office and, with respect to tax offenses, the Tax Division, Department of Justice, for any crimes relating to:
(1) evasion of payment of income taxes, for the calendar years 2012 through 2016, as charged in Counts One through Five of the Information;
(2) making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a credit decision, from at least in or about February 2015, up to and including in or about April 2016, as charged in Count Six of the Information;
(3) causing an unlawful corporate contribution, from at least in or about June 2016 through in or about August 2016, as charged in Count Seven of the Information;
(4) making an excessive campaign contribution, on or about October 2016, as charged in Count Eight of the Information, and
(5) making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a credit decision by Sterling National Bank, from at least in or about October 2016, up to an including in or about April 2018, it being understood that this agreement does not bar the use of such conduct as a predicate act or as the basis for a sentencing enhancement in a subsequent prosecution including, but not limited to, a prosecution pursuant to 18 USC 1961 et seq".
Its section 5 that I find interesting. I looked up 18 USC 1961; its The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act.
From wiki:
Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court since it focuses on patterns of behaviour as opposed to criminal acts.
To me, this looks like the prosecution keeping their options open to go after Cohen and any con-conspirators for racketeering, and if patterns of behaviour are the key, then Dolt really could be in deep doodoo!
