After dramatic appeals and testimony in Congress, Donald Trump's one-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen is due to report to jail to serve a sentence he deems unjust because he claims he was simply following his boss's orders.
He is due to report to the Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, New York, about 110km northwest of New York City.
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December, after admitting to having paid hush money during the 2016 election to two women who said they had had affairs with Mr Trump - in violation of electoral laws - having committed tax fraud, and having lied to Congress.
The father-of-two had hoped until the last moment that his sentence would be reduced, offering information to investigators that could compromise President Trump and his family, including over the Russia investigation.
Cohen will become one of just two close aides of the president jailed for a lengthy period of time after Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's ex-campaign manager who was sentenced to seven-and-half years of prison.
Cohen worked for the Trump Organization for a decade and insists that all reprehensible acts took place at the behest of Mr Trump, who he claims would be ready to cling to power even if he loses his bid for a second term as president in 2020.
"How come I'm the only one?", Cohen asked in an interview with The New Yorker.
"I didn't work for the campaign. I worked for him. And how come I'm the one that's going to prison? I'm not the one that slept with the porn star," he added, referring to Stormy Daniels, one of the women who received hush money.
Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis said on Friday that the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, should have gone to prison since he "signed hush money checks."
For the US president and his allies, Cohen's prison sentence has the taste of payback after the one-time attorney turned on his boss.
Mr Trump called him "weak" and a "rat" ready to make up any lies necessary to avoid prison.
Cohen, who has been disbarred and is running out of cash, has not said his last word.
Read more:
Michael Cohen calls Trump 'racist' and 'conman'
Michael Cohen's testimony on Donald Trump - the main points
This weekend, he told reporters following him in Manhattan as he spent his last moments of freedom with his son Jake, a student in Miami, that he would make some final statements before going behind bars.
When he spoke to lawmakers earlier this year, Cohen mentioned plans to write a book and have his experiences made into a film.
In doing so, he would be following the example of Richard Nixon's ex-lawyer John Dean, who pleaded guilty for having bought the silence of the Watergate scandal burglars, and then wrote a book about his experience.
Cohen is due to be held in the Federal Correctional Institute's low-security "camp," which holds detainees who are not considered to be dangerous, including many other white collar criminals.
They can use libraries, as well as basketball and tennis courts while wearing their beige uniforms.
Asked about Cohen’s prospect for an expedited release for good behaviour, criminal defence attorney Harlan Protass said the best he can hope for is a 15% reduction off his sentence for "good behaviour"
"He'll also likely spend the last six months of his sentence in a half-way house, like where former Congressman Anthony Weiner is now."
