Michael Cohen Matter

Outcome

Notes

AI UseMichael Cohen, former lawyer to Donald Trump but then disbarred, used Google Bard to find case law supporting his motion for early termination of supervised release. He stated he believed Bard was a "super-charged search engine" and was unaware it could generate fictitious cases.Hallucination DetailsCohen provided three non-existent case citations generated by Bard to his attorney, David M. Schwartz (not the same Schwartz as in Mata), who included them in a court filing. There was a misunderstanding between Cohen and his attorneys regarding who was responsible for verifying the citations. The fake citations were discovered by Cohen's other counsel, Danya Perry, who disclosed the issue to the court. One fake citation involved a chronological impossibility.Ruling/SanctionJudge Jesse Furman identified the citations as fake and issued an order to show cause regarding sanctions against the attorney. However, Judge Furman ultimately declined to impose sanctions on Cohen himself, noting his non-lawyer status, his stated (though surprising) ignorance of generative AI risks, and the expectation that his licensed attorney should have verified the citations. The judge nonetheless described the incident as "embarrassing" for Cohen and denied his underlying motion on the merits.Key Judicial ReasoningThe court highlighted the importance of verifying AI-generated content and the responsibility of licensed attorneys to ensure the accuracy of filings, even when research suggestions come from clients. The incident further underscored the unreliability of generative AI for legal research if used without verification.