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FORT LAUDERDALE - A lawyer received a four-month federal prison sentence Monday for holding $940,000 for a friend blamed for selling 10 tons of marijuana.
Steven E. Cohen, 49, of Delray Beach admitted holding the cash in his home safe but denied knowing it came from drug dealing conducted by Roger J. Taylor Jr., a friend since 1980. He said Taylor told him he was hiding the money from his soon-to-be-wife so she wouldn't know how much he was worth. Taylor also was a fireworks distributor and had an ATM machine business and real estate investments.
Over time, Cohen held $670,000 to $940,000 for Taylor. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to avoid financial reporting requirements. The Drug Enforcement Administration maintained the money given to Cohen was one of several cash stashes Taylor used since he began selling drugs in the 1980s.
Taylor was sentenced to a minimum mandatory 20 years for moving "a couple thousand pounds (of marijuana) per year, year after year after year," said DEA spokesman Joe Kilmer. He gave up more than $1.8-million in cash, real estate and vehicles under his plea deal.
Kilmer said Taylor hired clean-cut, casually dressed couriers to drive Mexican marijuana from California and Arizona to Florida. Cohen, who grew up in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has been a personal injury lawyer in Florida for 20 years. His sentence includes four months of house arrest after his release from prison. His law license was suspended in June and it may be revoked.