Stormy Daniels’s attorney Michael Avenatti said Tuesday that President Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen received $500,000 in the months after the 2016 election from a company run by a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Avenatti said the funding may have been used to reimburse the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
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After significant investigation, we have discovered that Mr. Trump’s atty Mr. Cohen received approximately $500,000 in the mos. after the election from a company controlled by a Russian Oligarc with close ties to Mr. Putin. These monies may have reimbursed the $130k payment.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 8, 2018
The Executive Summary from our first Preliminary Report on Findings may be accessed via the link below. Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen have a lot of explaining to do.https://t.co/179WvIkRlD
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 8, 2018
Avenatti released a report with preliminary findings about the bank account he says Cohen used to make the payment to Daniels. That account was made in the name of the company Cohen created to transfer the money to Daniels, Essential Consultants LLC.
The report states that Cohen’s account received roughly $500,000 in payments from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Those payments were reportedly made between January and August 2017.
“Mr. Cohen inexplicably accepted these payments while he was the personal attorney to the President and holding himself out at times as employed by the Trump Organization (with few other clients),” the report reads.
“This was occurring at the same time significant questions were being raised relating to (a) the involvement of Russia and Vladimir Putin in the 2016 Presidential Election and (b) the extent of the relationship between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump.”
CNN reported Tuesday evening that special counsel Robert Mueller‘s team has questioned Vekselberg about the payments to Cohen, as well as donations the head of his U.S. affiliate made to Trump’s campaign and inauguration fund.
Vekselberg, who is one of the subjects of recent U.S. sanctions, is one of two Russian oligarchs stopped by FBI agents earlier this year after their planes landed in New York.
The report released by Avenatti also claims that the bank account received payments totaling nearly $400,000 from global pharmaceutical company Novartis, and noted that Trump reportedly had a dinner meeting in Switzerland with the Novartis CEO shortly after the transactions were made.
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- Discussion
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Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Cohen may have used money from Putin-tied company in hush money deal https://t.co/FgRjGujUvy pic.twitter.com/848FvkGAH6
— The Hill (@thehill) May 8, 2018
I can confirm @MichaelAvenatti's allegations: Michael Cohen took money from a company controlled by one of Putin's favorite oligarchs. https://t.co/RRnCSlEmC5
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) May 8, 2018
So a drug company was also buying influence from Trump. Nice.
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