This article is more than 2 years old.

May 14, 2018 This article is more than 2 years old.

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is not only a payer of hush money, alleged arranger of “catch and kill” deals, and alleged acquaintance of Russian mobsters. He also has a side hustle leasing taxi medallions in New York City, and according to the Wall Street Journal, once pitched himself as a “political consultant” to the competition: Uber.

According to the Journal (paywall), in 2016, Cohen’s finances were tight and his taxi medallion business struggling. He reportedly tried to switch tacks by courting the ride-hailing app Uber, which rejected him citing conflicts of interest.

Cohen, undeterred, apparently reminded the company that he was “the president’s lawyer,” with no success.

Uber didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment, nor did a lawyer for Michael Cohen. Cohen told the Journal that he was being maligned by “falsehoods and gross inaccuracies,” but didn’t dispute any details in their piece.

Several other companies did take up Cohen’s offer, with AT&T, Columbus Nova, and Novartis sending money to Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants LLC. Ford, like Uber, rejected Cohen’s advances, the WSJ reports.

Money into Cohen’s shell company