The details of the payment Michael Cohen, 57, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, 45, on the eve of the 2016 election came into sharp focus by way of a banker’s testimony during former President Donald Trump’s New York City hush-money trial on Tuesday.
Gary Farro is a banker who spent 15 years at First Republic Bank, ending his tenure as a senior managing director. The financial institution went defunct in May 2023 as a result of weakness in the U.S. banking system following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank — a collapse that marked the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.
The third witness in the trial, who originally and briefly took the stand last week, testified that years before that bank failure, he oversaw a loan and ensuing wire transfer that First Republic brass eventually came to have more than second thoughts about.
On Oct. 26, 2016, Cohen took out a home-equity loan from the bank totaling $131,000. Jurors were shown a form that formalized the arrangement and Farro authenticated that financial document, according to a report by Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld.
Both the lender and the lendee understood this was no ordinary loan.
Jurors were shown a “high” importance email from a bank staffer requesting expedited processing for Cohen’s $131,000 advance.
Next, the evidence included an email from Cohen’s Trump Organization account to a bank employee requesting “confirmation that the funds were deposited into the other account.”
Around four minutes later, Farro’s assistant wrote Cohen back to let him know the funds had been deposited into his checking account.
On Oct. 27, 2016, a total of $130,000 was wired to Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson — in order to keep the pornographic actress from discussing an alleged tryst with then-candidate Trump in the waning days of the election contest. Cohen showed up at First Republic in person that morning to initiate the wire transfer, Farro testified, according to a report by MSNBC personality Katie Phang.
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight white collar criminal counts, including two campaign finance violations, over the payment that emanated from his infamous Delaware-based shell corporation, Essential Consultants LLC. Cohen himself has admitted the payment was intended to influence the 2016 election; prosecutors allege that the electoral-focused hush-money payment was directed by Trump.
The defendant, for his part, maintains that Cohen was an obsequious hanger-on who independently tried to purchase Daniels’ silence in order to curry favor with the man he referred to as “the Boss.”
Farro told jurors that had he known what the payment was for — or even who it was ultimately intended for — the bank likely would have never agreed to issue Cohen the home equity loan in the first place.
In his testimony, the banker reportedly said First Republic simply does not work “with that industry,” referring to the adult film business. In fact, the witness testified, Cohen might not have been able to open an account if the bank knew Cohen intended to deal with Daniels.
As it was, Farro reportedly testified, Cohen falsely wrote that the purpose of the account was for a “Retainer.”
And, once the account was open and funded, the witness told the Manhattan jury on Tuesday, the destination for the funds likely would have caused at least some problems — had the bank known.
“All wires have to be approved by the bank,” Farro testified, saying that had the bank known the funds would benefit a political candidate, it would have likely slowed the process down considerably.
Farro also testified “enhanced due diligence” would have occurred if Cohen had been honest about the money being sent to an adult film actress — which might have blocked the wire transfer completely.
Later on, the 45th president’s lead defense attorney, Southern District of New York alum Todd Blanche, asked Farro if hubbub over the Daniels payment meant the bank did not perform due diligence.
Farro, for his part, reportedly replied in the negative, saying it was actually a matter of Cohen misleading the lender.
Once the story about Daniels, Trump and the alleged hush money payment was all the rage in the press, all bets were off. Farro testified First Republic closed all of Cohen’s accounts soon thereafter due to the avalanche of “negative press.”
“Stormy Daniels, when that came out,” the banker, who is now employed by Michigan-based Flagstar Bank, said in response to a question from the state about the Cohen account closures.
The banker added he was not personally responsible for opening or closing any of those accounts.
“When a client is no longer truthful with us, we can choose not to do business with them,” the witness reportedly said.
The post ‘No longer truthful with us’: Michael Cohen’s former banker guides jury step-by-step through the details and lies that led to Stormy Daniels payoff in Trump hush-money trial first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Colin Kalmbacher
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