Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor, is a CNN legal analyst and a Rutgers University scholar. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Judge William Pauley sentenced Michael Cohen to three years in prison on Wednesday, marking the end of a stunning rise and fall for President Donald Trump's former longtime personal attorney. Cohen went from knockaround New York City lawyer to hardball enforcer for an avaricious real estate mogul. He then ascended to consigliere for a presidential campaign that pulled off one of the most unlikely political upsets in history, before becoming an influential presence in the inner sanctum of the White House. And then he came crashing down.

On Wednesday, Cohen hit rock bottom as he stood at the defendant's table in a federal courtroom and received a tongue-lashing and a stern sentence from a judge for his " veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct ."

Cohen's request to the judge for mercy -- his attorneys sought a sentence involving no imprisonment whatsoever -- perfectly embodied the one consistent theme in Cohen's professional life: He always wants it both ways. At the sentencing proceeding, Cohen tried to play the hero and the victim. He purported to accept full responsibility for his actions, yet he cited his relationship with the President as the reason he followed " a path of darkness rather than light ."

We have not necessarily heard the last from Cohen just yet. Special counsel Robert Mueller made clear in his sentencing memo that Cohen provided "relevant and useful" information that was "credible and consistent with other evidence."

Mueller further disclosed that Cohen has provided information on several high-stakes topics that could bring serious political or criminal consequences to Trump or inner-circle members of his administration, including "useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to (Mueller's) investigation." We still do not know the full extent of information that Cohen provided to Mueller, but it promises to be explosive when fully revealed.

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