Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examiner Michael Cohn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Tuesday, days before his felony trial on charges of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and unauthorized computer access would have begun in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

If Cohn had not pleaded guilty to theft of government property before U.S. District Judge Gary Brown, his bench trial would have been the district’s first criminal trial since the coronavirus pandemic froze court proceedings in March.