Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Trump attorney Michael Cohen got $500K from Russian-linked firm

Christal Hayes | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Rudy Giuliani: Cohen might have paid other women 'if necessary' Going into damage control, President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told ABC News he’s not ruling out the possibility that Michael Cohen paid off other women. Nathan Rousseau Smith has the story.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen is facing fresh scrutiny following revelations that the company Cohen used to pay porn star Stormy Daniels received money from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin, along with firms that have business before the federal government.

The payment from a company linked to Vicktor Vekselberg after the 2016 presidential election was first disclosed Tuesday by Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Daniels.

The firm, Columbus Nova, confirmed the payment to Cohen but denied it was tied to Vekselberg. A statement from the company's attorney Richard Owens said the Columbus Nova was "owned and controlled" by Americans.

Two other firms, telecom giant AT&T and pharmaceutical company Novartis also acknowledged payments to Cohen, following Avenatti’s release of a seven-page dossier.

The Justice Department is considering a proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner.

The revelations are the latest to potentially worsen legal woes for Cohen, who is under criminal investigation and whose office, home and hotel room were raided by federal agents last month.

The seven pages of information released by Avenatti reveal dates of payments, other bank accounts used by Cohen and multiple other payments made to Cohen by other companies and individuals, which total more than $4 million.

Avenatti did not include documents to support the payments nor did he reveal the source of his information. The New York Times later obtained financial information and said it corroborated much of what Avenatti released.

Vekselberg, chairman of asset manager Renova Group, has a net worth of about $13 billion, according to Forbes, and has close ties with Putin. He was one of a number of Russian-linked oligarchs hit with sanctions in April by the Trump administration.

Vekselberg was questioned in recent months by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to The New York Times and CNN. In a report last week, the Times wrote that agents searched Vekselberg's electronic devices while talking with him.

A spokesperson for Mueller's office declined to comment.

Vekselberg was stopped after getting off a private plane in New York, the Times reported, noting it was unclear at the time why federal agents with Mueller's team were questioning the businessman.

On Tuesday that may have become more clear after Avenatti released information outlining a number of accusations, which have not been verified by USA TODAY.

Among the findings was that Cohen took $500,000 from Columbus Nova, a self-described "US investment vehicle" for Vekselberg's Renova Group.

Avenatti said the payments came after the 2016 presidential election.

The company is owned by Andrew Intrater, an American who donated $250,000 to Trump's inaugural fund, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political money.

Intrater, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, claimed to be Vekselberg's cousin.

CNN reported one of the questions Vekselberg was asked by federal agents was about hundreds of thousands of dollars his company's U.S. affiliate gave to Cohen.

Columbus Nova confirmed payments to Cohen but said reports that Vekselberg used the company as a "conduit for payments" were false.

The company said Cohen was hired as a "business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures," a statement from the company said.

Avenatti, who is representing Daniels in a lawsuit that aims to free her from a non-disclosure agreement that kept her from sharing allegations of an affair with Trump, claims the money was deposited into Essential Consultants LLC, a shell company owned by Cohen.

The company is the same one, Avenatti claims, that wired Daniels a $130,000 payment for her silence.

It's unclear how Avenatti obtained this information and whether it comes from Cohen's personal bank accounts. While speaking on CNN, Avenatti said the payments are troubling, questionable and deserve to be investigated.

"Michael Cohen should not have been accepting money, especially under the circumstances at this time, from anyone with Russian ties, quite frankly," Avenatti said on CNN, pointing to the ongoing investigation by Mueller.

He said it's unclear why Cohen was receiving this money and where it went.

"I don't believe that Michael Cohen is registered as a lobbyist. I don't believe that he's registered as he should be in order to represent any foreign agents or foreign interests," Avenatti said. "I mean this is a big deal."

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Both Cohen and his lawyer did not immediately respond to inquiries. But in a comment to The Atlantic, Cohen's lawyer, Stephen Ryan, said he would not talk about the $500,000 and added, "it wasn’t a payment."

In his seven pages of allegations, Avenatti also outlined a number of other payments made to Cohen, including from several banks and AT&T.

Telecom giant AT&T, whose possible merger with Time Warner is pending before the Justice Department, was the first to confirm payments to Cohen's company.

In a statement, AT&T officials confirmed Cohen’s company was among the firms it “engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration.”

AT&T officials said Cohen’s company did no legal or lobbying work on its behalf, and the contract ended in December 2017.

Avenatti’s document also raises questions about several other transactions involving Cohen, including money transferred from Elliott Broidy, a Los Angeles-based investor who had been a top Republican fundraiser.

Broidy has previously acknowledged that Cohen helped arrange payments totaling $1.6 million to a Playboy model who said Brody had impregnated her.

In a statement Tuesday night, Broidy spokesman Eric Rose said the payments included in the Avenatti document represent a common way to handle a settlement agreement and don’t amount to “nefarious” activity.

“As is typical in legal settlements, a client often pays money to a lawyer’s client trust account and the lawyer then forwards the funds,” Rose said. “This is common practice. It is disappointing that Michael Avenatti is attempting to make legitimate transactions look nefarious by releasing a document with no context.”

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