(CNN) Michael Cohen was sending a very clear message from the moment he hopped out of a black SUV in front of the New York courthouse where he was to be sentenced for a series of crimes he pleaded guilty to earlier this year: I'm the real victim here.

Cohen, somber, walked into the courthouse surrounded by his family -- including his daughter, who was using a crutch after a recent surgery. Guy Petrillo, Cohen's lawyer, said that his client "had the misfortune to have been counsel to the President."

Last month, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts including tax fraud, false statements to a bank and breaking campaign finance law in coordinating with President Donald Trump to keep secret a set of hush money payments in the run-up to the 2016 election to two women for alleging they had affairs with Trump.

And when Cohen had a chance to address the sentencing judge personally, he sought to drive home the idea that he had been personally victimized by Trump. "This may seem hard to believe, but today is one of the most meaningful days of my life," Cohen said. "I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that I accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen that I deeply admired."

Later, he added that "it was my blind loyalty to this man that led me to take a path of darkness instead of light. I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds."

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