Michael Cohen reportedly taken back into federal custody

NEW YORK - Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, has reportedly been taken back into federal custody.

He had been granted early release from the federal prison in Otisville, New York, about 80-miles north of his Manhattan apartment.

He was allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at his Manhattan apartment instead of the medium-security correctional facility due to concerns about coronavirus.

He was photographed over the weekend having dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, an apparent violation of his terms of release.

The news agency Reuters cited a witness seeing Cohen being taken into custody on Thursday afternoon.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 for bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress.

He had been President Trump's loyal lieutenant who said he'd take a bullet for him. But then Cohen flipped.

He told Manhattan federal prosecutors that Trump directed him to pay hush money to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal quiet about their alleged affairs with the president.

And to special counsel Robert Mueller's team, Cohen also admitted to misleading Congress about the president's Russian business pursuits during the 2016 campaign. That had the president taking to Twitter to call Cohen a rat.

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III, who sentenced Cohen, rejected a plea for Cohen to be released early because of the pandemic but coronavirus-relief legislation passed by Congress gave prison officials the authority to release inmates on their own.

Cohen's original release date was Nov. 22, 2021.