(CNN) A US investment firm thrust into the spotlight because of its payment to President Donald Trump's personal lawyer has scrubbed its website, distancing itself from a Russian investment company and its oligarch chairman.

The Russian investment company, Renova Group, is controlled by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin who was placed last month on the US Treasury Department's list of sanctioned individuals and entities for Russian election meddling and other hostile activities.

CNN reported Tuesday that investigators working with special counsel Robert Mueller stopped and questioned Vekselberg at a New York-area airport earlier this year about payments the US investment firm, Columbus Nova, made to Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Vekselberg and Columbus Nova founder Andrew Intrater are cousins. Intrater was also questioned by investigators, sources told CNN.

Michael Avenatti, an attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, alleged Tuesday that Vekselberg made the payments directly, saying, "Mr. Vekselberg and his cousin Mr. Andrew Intrater routed eight payments to Mr. Cohen through a company named Columbus Nova LLC."

Columbus Nova says Vekselberg's Russian company is its biggest client, but the company itself is fully owned and operated by US citizens and has never had any foreign ownership. It also says the oligarch had no role in the American firm's decision to hire Cohen.

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