New Jersey's public pension fund has since 2014 invested $500 million with an owner of the National Enquirer, the supermarket tabloid embroiled in the investigation of President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

The New Jersey State Investment Council that oversees the $78.6 billion public worker pension fund has invested $200 million and $300 million, respectively, with investment vehicles managed by New Jersey-based Chatham Asset Management.

Chatham Asset Management, along with Omega Charitable Partnership, owns American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer.

Adam Liebtag, acting Chairman of the State Investment Council, said Wednesday that the pension fund has small but direct investments in Chatham's holding in American Media Inc.

Both funds with which the New Jersey government worker pension fund is invested touch American Media Inc, though the estimated value of those investments is much less than the $500 million invested with Chatham Asset Management, according to the Division of Investment.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, Jennifer Sciortino, said Wednesday that "While (the Division of Investment) plays no role in the management of a fund's portfolio companies, it expects the funds to invest in good businesses with strong management teams that follow all applicable laws."

Chatham Asset Management did not return a call requesting comment.

The National Enquirer has had a cozy relationship with Trump, whom the publication endorsed in the 2016 election.

Vanity Fair last week revealed that American Media executives were cooperating with federal prosecutors investigating hush money payments to two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump. The report called the tabloid "Trump's most powerful media ally next to Fox News."

American Media Chairman David Pecker, according to the Vanity Fair article, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors investigating the payments made to two women who said they had affairs with Trump. The White House has denied the affairs.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Dylan Howard, American Media's vice president and chief content officer, also was offered immunity from prosecution to talk about the pair of payments.

Cohen was charged with arranging payments to muzzle the women.

Cohen told federal prosecutors that he worked with National Enquirer executives to secure a "catch and kill" contract with Karen McDougal, in which the tabloid paid the former Playboy playmate $150,000 to sign away rights to her story of a nine-month-long affair with Trump. The Enquirer then shelved the story.

He also arranged a $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford, a pornographic film star who also goes by the screen name Stormy Daniels, to sign a nondisclosure agreement about an alleged affair with Trump.

American Media filed for bankruptcy in 2010. In 2014, it was acquired by Chatham Asset Management and Omega Charitable Fund. Chatham owns nearly 80 percent of the company, according to a 2016 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

New Jersey's State Investment Council under former Gov. Chris Christie's administration in 2014 agreed to invest $300 million with Chatham Fund LP, which was listed in that 2016 SEC filing as an owner of American Media Inc.

Then in late 2017, the investment council committed $200 million to Chatham Private Debt and Strategic Capital Fund, citing its "successful relationship" with Chatham Asset Management, LLC.

In a September 2017 memo, the then-director of the New Jersey Division of Investment, Christopher McDonough, praised the investment manager's "ability to navigate the volatile markets" during the Great Recession and its outperformance of indices.

The state's $200 million stake represented 20 percent of the fund at the time, according to state records.

Liebtag said Wednesday that the state will remain in contact with Chatham to review any potential liability in the investment.

"I think we have to do a gut check and do our due diligence," he said.

"This is the problem when you invest in private equity, you invest in a private equity company but you don't have a lot of influence or control over what the private equity invests in," said Liebtag, who has urged the pension fund scale down its alternative assets.

American Media is also the publisher of US weekly, Star, OK!, In Touch, Life & Style and Men's Journal, among other magazines and websites.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com . Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.