Washington (CNN) Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, President Donald Trump's lawyer formed a private LLC to pay a former porn star in exchange for not speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter with the then-candidate, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the alleged encounter with Trump took place in July 2006 after a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

The company, Essential Consultants LLC, was reportedly created in Delaware -- which offers a higher standard of privacy to business owners -- by attorney Michael Cohen, according to the Journal's report, which cited corporate records and people familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal first reported last week that Cohen had paid the former porn star, Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, $130,000 in exchange for her silence about the alleged encounter. Following that report, Cohen said in a statement that Trump "vehemently denies" any encounter between the two.

In addition to Essential Consultants LLC, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that aliases were used to hide the names of people involved, including "Peggy Peterson" for Daniels.

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