HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020438.jpg

Sean Hannity
Cohen has said in court that he had only three legal
clients during the past year: Broidy, Trump and talk-show host
Sean Hannity. He gave seven others "strategic advice and
business consulting."
Last month Cohen said he borrowed from his home-equity
credit line to make a $130,000 payment in October 2016 to Stormy
Daniels, an adult-film star who says she had sex with Trump.
In a Thursday morning appearance on "Fox & Friends," Trump
distanced himself from Cohen, saying he did only "a tiny, tiny
little fraction" of Trump's legal work, but it included
representation "on this crazy Stormy Daniels deal."
Russian Interference
Cohen is under investigation for bank fraud and violating
campaign-finance law. But his decade at Trump's side as his
lawyer and enforcer could yield information he might trade to
investigators looking into the Trump campaign and Russia's
interference in the U.S. election.
Still, if he chooses to defend himself, Cohen does have
assets. Companies he signs for own two investment properties
purchased in 2015. The larger one, with 92 units on New York's
Upper East Side, is 38 percent owned by Cohen's companies. The
businesses also appear to be the sole owner of a downtown
building with 20 units.
Together they likely generate less than $1 million in
annual net income for Cohen's companies after accounting for
partner interests, expenses and financing costs, data compiled
by Bloomberg show. Debt against the buildings is low, meaning
that Cohen could tap them for cash. Last October, the Cohens
sold a unit at Trump World Tower, near the United Nations, for
$3.3 million.
Cohen has been a savvy property investor. He previously
owned four buildings in need of repairs in Lower Manhattan,
rehabilitated them and sold them for $32 million in 2014, more
than doubling his initial investment.
'Cautious, Methodical'
Richard Guarino, a partner at Friedman-Roth Realty, has
worked with Cohen on a handful of deals, including the purchase
of his Upper East Side building. As a real estate investor,
Cohen is "cautious, methodical, smart and, I think,
conservative," Guarino says.
Cohen's current business partners are a family of New York
real estate lawyers headed by Herbert Chaves. The family, having
just sold a plot of Brooklyn land to a partnership including the
family company of Jared Kushner, were looking to reinvest their
gains when they bought Cohen's Lower Manhattan buildings in
2014. Months later, they partnered with Cohen to buy the Upper
East Side property, 330 East 63rd Street. Guarino, a broker on
the deal, says he dealt only with Cohen, who served as a
representative for the investor group even though the Chaves
family companies hold the majority stake.
Purchased for $58 million, the squat, brown-brick seven-
story building has only a $17 million mortgage, meaning Cohen's
share has at least $15 million of equity he could borrow against
if his partners allowed him to do so. Another property at 133
Avenue D, not previously reported to be owned by Cohen, has at
least $5 million of equity not tapped by a mortgage. But more
debt means more risk and could hurt Cohen later if the taxi
business doesn't turn around to help cover higher interest
payments.
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020438