New York (CNN) Federal prosecutors on Thursday acknowledged an "ongoing" grand jury investigation related to the case against President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, which they disclosed during an effort to keep search warrant material in that case sealed.

Since Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal counts in August, prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York have been examining whether Trump Organization executives violated campaign finance laws -- an inquiry that stems from material in the charges against Cohen, CNN has reported.

Among the matters to which Cohen pleaded guilty were two campaign finance violations tied to his work for Trump, including payments Cohen made or helped orchestrate that were designed to silence women who claimed sexual encounters with the then-candidate. (Trump has denied the affair claims.) As part of those charges, federal prosecutors described an effort by Trump Organization executives, who went unnamed in court filings, to help facilitate the schemes and reimburse Cohen.

Multiple news organizations, including CNN, have asked a judge to unseal material related to several search warrants that were executed during the course of the months-long investigation into Cohen. In arguing their opposition to making those documents public, federal prosecutors provided a peek into their ongoing investigative effort.

"[U]nsealing of the materials at the present time would interfere with this investigation," they wrote in Thursday's filing, which was made in response to an unsealing effort by The New York Times, "and would implicate significant privacy concerns for numerous uncharged third parties who are named in the materials."

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