New York (CNN) The New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan has disbarred Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, after Cohen pleaded guilty last year to multiple felony charges, according to a decision released Tuesday. A five-judge panel found that Cohen, who began a three-day stretch of congressional testimony on Tuesday, should be disbarred for his federal conviction for having previously made false statements to Congress, the decision said. Though Cohen's disbarment was widely expected in legal circles, for a onetime trusted legal adviser to the President to be stricken from the roll of attorneys in New York state nevertheless constituted another striking step in the escalating consequences of the investigation into Cohen. Cohen, who pleaded guilty in two cases to an array of charges that included campaign-finance violations connected to his work for Trump, is scheduled to report to prison for a three-year sentence beginning on May 6. It was released two days earlier than initially intended, according to the New York Law Journal.

Source: CNN February 26, 2019 23:37 UTC