NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - A federal judge on

Wednesday declined to sanction Michael Cohen, the former fixer

for Donald Trump, for mistakenly giving his lawyer fake case

citations generated by artificial intelligence, calling the

episode "embarrassing."

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan also refused

to end court-supervised release for Cohen, who pleaded guilty in

2018 to campaign finance violations and tax evasion and served

time in prison, and suggested Cohen may have perjured himself.

Furman's decision came as Cohen prepares to be a star

witness against Trump in the former president's upcoming

criminal trial in Manhattan.

Trump had pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts for

covering hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to aid

his successful 2016 presidential run.

The 2024 Republican presidential candidate and his campaign

have long portrayed Cohen as a serial liar, and Furman's

decision could add fuel to that portrayal.

'UNFORTUNATE EPISODE'

The citations to three nonexistent cases that Cohen, a

former lawyer who has been disbarred, generated through

Alphabet's Google Bard appeared in a filing seeking to

end his supervised release before November.

Cohen's lawyer, David Schwartz, submitted the filing after

his client sought feedback from another lawyer, Danya Perry.

Schwartz said he believed the citations came from Perry, and

citing her reputation as a "renowned and skilled trial lawyer"

did not check their accuracy. He and Cohen later apologized.

In his decision, Furman called Schwartz's conduct "certainly

negligent, perhaps even grossly negligent," but found no

evidence of bad faith to justify sanctions. He also did not

question Cohen's original belief that the cases were real.

But the judge said that given the publicity surrounding AI,

it was surprising Cohen thought Google Bard was a "super-charged

search engine" and not a "generative text service" such as

ChatGPT.

"As embarrassing as this unfortunate episode was for

Schwartz, if not Cohen, the record does not support the

imposition of sanctions," Furman wrote.

Barry Kamins, a lawyer for Schwartz, said he was gratified

by the finding of no bad faith.

Other lawyers have also used fake citations generated by AI.

In his year-end report on the judiciary, U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts said using AI requires "caution and

humility," and called citing nonexistent cases in court papers

"always a bad idea."

WALKING AWAY FROM RESPONSIBILITY

In seeking to end his supervised release, Cohen said his

recent testimony in New York Attorney General Letitia James'

civil fraud case against Trump demonstrated his "exceptional

level of remorse and a commitment to upholding the law."

But the judge said Cohen's testimony that he had lied when

pleading guilty to tax evasion meant he had committed perjury

when entering what plea, or committed perjury when testifying

against Trump.

"Cohen's ongoing and escalating efforts to walk away from

his prior acceptance of responsibility for his crimes are

manifest evidence of the ongoing need for specific deterrence,"

Furman wrote.

In a statement, Perry called the absence of sanctions

against Cohen an "important win," but disputed Furman's

characterization of Cohen's testimony, noting that the judge in

the civil fraud case wrote "Michael Cohen told the truth."

Perry added: "Defendants often feel compelled to agree to

coercive plea deals under severe pressure. That is exactly what

happened to Mr. Cohen."

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan,

who opposed ending Cohen's supervised release, declined to

comment.