Hoo-boy. First, the disclosure from Michael Avenatti, who also provided an executive summary of information that presumably backs his claim. The Hill writes:
Stormy Daniels’s attorney Michael Avenatti said Tuesday that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen received $500,000 in the months after the 2016 election from a company run by a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Avenatti said that the funding may have been used to reimburse the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
Keeping in mind for the moment that Avanatti's claim is thus far unsubstantiated, at the very same time that he made it, CNN reported Robert Mueller questioned that very same oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators have questioned a Russian oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments his company's US affiliate made to President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, after the election, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of asset manager Renova Group, is an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, and last month the Trump administration placed him on a list of sanctioned Russians for activities including election interference. The purpose of the payments, which predate the sanctions, and the nature of the business relationship between Vekselberg and Cohen is unclear. [...]
The questions asked of Vekselberg suggest that Mueller investigators have been examining some of Cohen's business relationships as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The Daily Beast is now partially substantiating Avenatti's claim:
The Daily Beast can confirm that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company controlled by Putin-aligned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
What remains unclear is exactly why Vekselberg was funneling money to Cohen (to borrow a term from Uncle Rudy). But regardless, the new revelation puts Cohen at the heart of a Trump-Russia collusion investigation if those payments can be connected to the campaign/election in any way.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018 · 11:53:11 PM +00:00
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Kerry Eleveld
UPDATE: NYT is confirming that Essential Consultants LLC, the shell company Cohen created for the Stormy payment (among other things), received payments from a Vekselberg-linked U.S. company “totaling more than $1 million.” In addition:
Transactions totaling at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants starting shortly before Mr. Trump was elected president and continuing to this January, the records show.
That’s consistent with Avenatti’s initial claim.
Let's not forget McClatchy’s reporting that Mueller also has evidence Cohen traveled to Prague in the late-summer of 2016 to meet with Putin ally Konstantin Kosachev (Cohen vigorously denied making that trip). In that reporting, the outlet was never able to confirm whether Mueller had evidence of the actual meeting—only that Cohen made the trip.
And here’s several key grafs from Avenatti’s executive summary, which he said was the result of “significant investigation.” He added, “These monies may have reimbursed the $130,000” to Stormy Daniels. (emphasis added)
- From October 2016 through January 2018, Mr. Cohen used his First Republic account to engage in suspicious financial transactions totaling $4,425,033.46.
- Chief among these suspicious financial transactions are approximately $500,000 in payments received from Mr. Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian Oligarch with an estimated net worth of nearly $13 Billion. Mr. Vekselberg and his cousin Mr. Andrew Intrater routed eight payments to Mr. Cohen through a company named Columbus Nova LLC (“Columbus”) beginning in January 2017 and continuing until at least August 2017.
- Columbus Nova is a private equity firm founded in 2000 with over $2 billion in assets. Mr. Intrater is the CEO of Columbus Nova. Columbus Nova is the U.S. investment vehicle for Renova Group, a multi-national company controlled by Mr. Vekselberg. Renova group holds investments in various interests, including mining, oil, and telecommunication
Clearly, Avenatti has built up some cred in the last couple months, but let’s also remember that his main purpose here is to help his client. Nonetheless, this seems like a fair observation from Avenatti since Mueller’s team is seemingly asking related questions.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen have a lot of explaining to do.