Stormy's lawyer: Russian oligarch sent $500,000 to Cohen to pay hush money

That and other revelations caught the president's team off guard when Avenatti unveiled them Tuesday on Twitter

 

A company tied to a Russian oligarch sent $500,000 last year to an entity that President Donald Trump’s lawyer used to pay hush money to porn actress Stephanie Clifford, her attorney Michael Avenatti claimed.

That and other revelations caught the president’s team off guard when Avenatti unveiled them Tuesday on Twitter. It’s the latest twist in litigation brought by Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, centered on a $130,000 payment that lawyer Michael Cohen arranged on the eve of the 2016 presidential election to secure Clifford’s silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

In a document made public online, Avenatti uncovered several corporate relationships. Among $4.43 million in transactions identified by Avenatti as suspicious were deposits from AT&T Inc. and a unit of Novartis AG to the Cohen company. AT&T confirmed shortly afterwards that it had paid Cohen a consulting fee late last year to provide “insights” into the Trump white house.

It’s unclear whether Avenatti obtained bank information as part of litigation involving Trump, Cohen and Clifford over the non-disclosure agreement Cohen negotiated. Separately, federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating the payment and Cohen’s broader business practices, and there are increasing indications that Cohen may be under financial strains. New financial filings this week, for example, show Cohen and his wife have used their apartment on New York’s Park Avenue as collateral for a troubled loan for his taxi businesses.

Renova Link

The money flows outlined by Avenatti ran largely through an account that Cohen opened at First Republic Bank in October 2016, just ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Soon after, Viktor Vekselberg -- a Russian oligarch with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin -- “caused substantial funds to be deposited into the bank account, from which Cohen made the payment” to Daniels, Avenatti said.

Vekselberg and his company, Renova Group, are among individuals and companies that have since been sanctioned by the U.S. to punish Russia for its election meddling and actions in Ukraine and Crimea.From Collusion to Cohen, Tallying Trump’s Legal Risks: QuickTakeAvenatti said the transfers to the Cohen entity came from a Renova investment vehicle, Columbus Nova.

Describing itself as a management company, Columbus Nova said Tuesday that it hired Cohen after Trump’s inauguration to consult on potential sources of capital and investments in real estate and other ventures. Columbus Nova is solely owned and controlled by Americans, the company said in a statement.

“The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova’s engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue,” its attorney, Richard Owens, said in the statement. “Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Nova’s owners was involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement.”

‘Not a Payment’

An attorney for Cohen said he wouldn’t discuss the $500,000 from Vekselberg, according to a tweet posted by a reporter. “I understand the shorthand you’re using, but it wasn’t a payment,” the attorney, Steve Ryan, told Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team has questioned Vekselberg about the payments into Cohen’s account, CNN reported Tuesday.

Reached by telephone half an hour after Avenatti posted the information, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said he doubted the report’s veracity.