Stormy Daniels' lawyer says Russian
firm's U.S. affiliate paid Trump attorney $500,000
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[May 09, 2018]
By Nathan Layne
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An attorney for porn
star Stormy Daniels said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's
lawyer, Michael Cohen, was paid $500,000 by a company with ties to a
Russian oligarch who was hit last month with U.S. sanctions to punish
Moscow for activities that included suspected meddling in the 2016 U.S.
election.
In a tweet and a report, Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, said a
U.S.-based company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, a businessman with
ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, sent Cohen the payment.
It was not immediately clear how Avenatti would know of any payments
made to Cohen. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said
Cohen paid her $130,000 in October 2016 to stay quiet about a 2006
sexual encounter she had with Trump.
Neither Avenatti nor Cohen responded to requests from Reuters for
comment.

The disclosures could add to pressure on Cohen, whose house, office and
hotel room were raided by the FBI a month ago as part of a criminal
investigation into the hush payment and other business dealings.
EIGHT PAYMENTS
Avenatti said Vekselberg and his cousin, Andrew Intrater, made eight
transfers to Cohen between January and August 2017 through a U.S.-based
company called Columbus Nova LLC for a total of $500,000.
A lawyer for Columbus Nova said Vekselberg had nothing to do with the
transactions.
Columbus Nova was listed by Renova Group as one of its companies as of
November 2017, according to an archived webpage for Renova, whose
website now says it is under construction. Renova Group is a
conglomerate controlled by Vekselberg.
The United States imposed sanctions last month on Vekselberg and Renova
to retaliate for the Kremlin's suspected meddling in the 2016 U.S.
election and other "malign activity."
The New York Times reported last week that Vekselberg was questioned by
U.S. agents this year as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation into Russian interference and possible collusion by
Trump's campaign.
Russia denies U.S. intelligence agencies' accusations it meddled in the
election, and Trump has denied any collusion. He also denies having had
an affair with Daniels.

COMPANY HIRED COHEN
Vekselberg and Intrater could not be reached for comment, but Richard
Owens, a lawyer for Columbus Nova, said in a statement the company hired
Cohen after Trump's January 2017 inauguration "as a business consultant
regarding sources of capital and potential investments in real estate
and other ventures."
Owens said Columbus Nova was solely owned by Americans and that any
claim that Vekselberg was involved in providing funding for the payments
to Cohen was "patently untrue."
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Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti leaves federal court in
the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., April 26, 2018.
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Avenatti also detailed payments he said were made to Cohen by U.S.
telecommunications company AT&T, Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG and
Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd . He said all the payments were made
in late 2017 and early 2018.
"There are too many unknowns to reach conclusions as to whether
anything involved with these transactions was illegal," said Michael
Zeldin, a money-laundering expert and former federal prosecutor who
is now a legal analyst on CNN.
AT&T confirmed the payments, saying they were aimed at gaining
"insights" into the new administration. AT&T has been pursuing an
$85 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc, which the U.S. Justice
Department is trying to stop.
Avenatti also said he discovered four payments of just under
$100,000 each by Novartis to Essential Consultants, the same company
used by Cohen to make payments to Daniels.
A Novartis representative said: “Any agreements with Essential
Consultants were entered before our current CEO taking office in
February of this year and have expired.“

AT&T said Essential Consultants was one of several firms it "engaged
in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new
administration" but that it received no legal or lobbying services
from Cohen's firm.
AT&T said the contract ended in December 2017.
A spokesman for Korea Aerospace Industries said the company had
signed a contract with Essential Consultants last year for legal
consulting concerning accounting standards on production costs, and
upon the expiration of the contract, made a payment in November.
(Report published by Avenatti & Associates
https://tmsnrt.rs/2ru3Gih)
(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann and
Diane Bartz in Washington and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Peter
Cooney and Howard Goller)
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