John Fry, an analyst with the Internal Revenue Service, was charged Thursday with leaking Michael Cohen's confidential bank records to Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti.

Why it matters: Avenatti posted a report on Twitter last May detailing payments that various firms made to a shell company Cohen set up called Essential Consultants — the same company Cohen used to pay off Daniels — for "insights into understanding the new administration." The companies included AT&T, Novartis and Columbus Nova, a U.S. investment firm with ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Go deeper: Corporate America paid Michael Cohen millions, left with nothing