Trump Co-Defendant Loses Lawyer After Reportedly Not Paying Him

One of former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in the sweeping Fulton County RICO case has lost legal representation after reportedly failing to pay her lawyer and listen to his legal advice.

Attorneys for Trevian Kutti, a one-time publicist for Kanye West and R. Kelly, filed a motion Monday withdrawing counsel of record. Kutti, who prosecutors are accusing of pressuring a Fulton County elections worker in January 2021, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and witness tampering charges.

Although the court filing did not provide a reason for why her Atlanta-based attorney, Darryl Cohen, and her Chicago-based attorneys, Steven Greenberg and Joshua Herman, were dropping Kutti, Cohen told The Messenger on Tuesday, "In order to have a good lawyer-client relationship, the client has to listen, the client has to be on board and you have to be paid."

Emphasizing he was speaking generically given the case's high profile and unusual nature, Cohen said, "All these things have to happen. I'm not saying any of those things did or didn't happen, but you can extrapolate."

Greenberg declined Newsweek's request to comment on whether Kutti paid her legal fees but said that he continues to believe that "This is a wrongful prosecution [of Kutti] that seeks to extinguish her first amendment rights."

Newsweek reached out to Cohen and Herman via email and Kutti via Instagram direct message for comment.

The motion states that Kutti has been notified of the withdrawal and that she has a 10-day window to file for an objection.

Kutti is currently free on a $75,000 bond, but her bond agreement could be revoked after she made remarks earlier this month on an Instagram Live that appeared to violate the terms of the deal.

"There's a woman sitting somewhere who knows this whole thing is a lie," Kutti said, referring to Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman. "Who knows I never did anything to her. Who knows I never. Who knows she begged me for help. There's a woman sitting somewhere who knows that I'm going to f*** her whole life up when this is done."

Asked about whether Kutti's bond could be revoked, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week, "The DA is patient."

Greenberg had previously defended Kutti's comments, saying, "People have the right even when they are out on bond to comment on their cases," and denied that Kutti threatened Freeman.

"There was absolutely nothing wrong with what she said," he told CNN.

Kutti allegedly approached Freeman in January 2021, telling the election worker that she was a "crisis manager and was sent from a high-profile individual," according to a police report. Freeman then contacted the police, who suggested the two women speak at a local police precinct where officers could supervise the discussion.

At the precinct, body camera footage shows Kutti telling Freeman, "I cannot say what specifically will take place. I just know that it will disrupt your freedom."

"You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up," Kutti added.

Freeman was among the two election workers who Trump and his campaign targeted in their claims of election fraud. An edited clip that allegedly showed Freeman counting fake mail-in ballots was widely circulated, and as a result, Freeman said she was the target of death threats and that she was forced to move from her home.

On Friday, Freeman and her daughter won $148 million in damages in her defamation case against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. Three days later, they filed a new complaint Monday alleging that Giuliani continues to make false statements about them. They asked a federal judge to "permanently bar Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani from persisting in his defamatory campaign against" the two election workers.