--- title: "Trump’s Former Lawyer Is Selling His Prison Badge as an NFT" description: "Donald Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen is now selling his prison badge as an NFT." date: "2021-12-03" modified: "2021-12-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-lawyer-prison-badge-nft" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" - "NFTs" tags: - "nfts" - "politics" - "the digest" - "trump" --- # Trump’s Former Lawyer Is Selling His Prison Badge as an NFT ![Donald Trump's ex-attorney Michael Cohen is now selling his prison badge as an NFT.]() *NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 06: Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, speaks to the media before departing his Manhattan apartment for prison on May 06, 2019 in New York City. Cohen is due to report to a federal prison in Otisville, New York, where he will begin serving a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and other crimes. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) \Image: Spencer Platt/Getty\* The former Trump attorney who fumbled the bag hard enough to land himself in prison — and his former employer under special investigation — is now selling his prison badge as an NFT, because we are currently living in the worst timeline and/or simulation. First [reported by *Page Six*](), the news that Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen is auctioning off a digital version of his inmate badge should come as no shock to those aware of either NFTs or of Cohen's meteoric crash from [Park Avenue]() to an upstate New York prison. Cohen, for those who mentally blocked out the period from 2016 until 2021, was known as Trump's "fixer," serving [for more than a decade]() at the real estate mogul's side and on various Trump-related boards until 2018, when the investigation into alleged Russian electoral interference began. Cohen's office and home were raided by the FBI in April 2018 while he was under investigation for a series of crimes including campaign finance violations and bank and tax fraud, and was in prison from May 2019 until June 2020, when he was remanded to house arrest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Released [from house arrest on November 22](), Cohen — who, among other things, said he [paid off women for Trump]() — announced that he's releasing his prison NFTs on the ArtGrails platform, and that they'll be auctioned off at this weekend's Miami Art Week. Along with the *clearly* valuable digital reproduction of his Otisville Federal Correctional Institution badge, Cohen is also selling a handwritten portion of his memoir, "Disloyal," which he penned in the clink. To make it even more meta, he's even selling a video of him *writing* the book, which was recorded by "an unnamed colleague," as *Page Six* mysteriously put it. On the one hand, it's hard not to pity the guy — he had his life destroyed by an employer he used to go to bat for on television and [who he now hates](). Selling NFTs does seem like as savvy a way as any to make a quick buck after being under house arrest. On the other, however, stands Cohen's character. Before he became infamous as Trump's fixer, the lawyer was well-known for his [pay-to-play taxi medallion scheme]() which, at its height, saw Manhattan drivers paying upwards of $10,000 for the privilege of ferrying people around in cabs. And though he no doubt has accrued additional debt via legal fees, unsealed court records revealed that he was a cool [$22 million in debt]() from the loans he took out to further that nefarious end. It's hard to imagine who would even want to buy such a man's prison badge, but then again, people have now [paid enormous sums]() for [much stupider NFTs](). So who knows. In Trumpworld, all bets are off. **READ MORE:** [Michael Cohen’s prison badge to be sold as NFTs at Miami Art Week]() \[*Page Six*\] **More NFT tomfoolery:** *[Crypto Bro Claims They’re Losing Their Wife and Kids Because They Bought a Super-Expensive NFT]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()