New York (CNN) A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to reduce or modify his prison sentence, accusing Cohen of making unfounded or inappropriate claims in an effort to win release.

"Ten months into his prison term, it's time that Cohen accept the consequences of his criminal convictions for serious crimes that had far reaching institutional harms," US District Court Judge William Pauley wrote.

Pauley also knocked Cohen for attempting to use the coronavirus pandemic as another reason for the possible modification of his sentence.

"Apparently searching for a new argument to justify a modification of his sentence to home confinement, Cohen now raises the specter of Covid-19," Pauley wrote. "That Cohen would seek to single himself out for release to home confinement appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle."

Cohen, who is serving a three-year sentence at a federal prison in Otisville, New York, after pleading guilty to eight counts including campaign finance violations connected to Trump, first asked the court in December to reduce his sentence.

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