Stormy Daniels' lawyer: Michael Cohen given $500,000 by Russian oligarch's firm

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/08/michael-cohen-russia-stormy-daniels-lawyer-claim

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Donald Trump’s personal attorney and legal fixer, Michael Cohen, was paid half a million dollars by a company affiliated with a Russian oligarch with close links to Vladimir Putin, according to extraordinary allegations published on Tuesday.

The claim was made in a research document drafted and posted online by Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actor known as Stormy Daniels, who alleged she was paid in 2016 in return for agreeing not to disclose that she had sex with Trump.

Avenatti did not provide details of sources for his information, which the Guardian has not independently verified.

Cohen was said by Avenatti to have received $500,000 through a US subsidiary of the Renova investment group owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire closely associated with Putin who was placed under sanction by the US government last month. The payments were allegedly made between January and August 2017.

Cohen and his attorney, Stephen Ryan, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Vekselberg has reportedly been interviewed by investigators working for Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump’s team during the 2016 election campaign. Vekselberg has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

CNN subsequently reported on Tuesday that Vekselberg was specifically asked by Mueller’s investigators about the alleged payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg was also a guest at a now-notorious December 2015 dinner in Moscow celebrating the RT television channel, which was attended by Putin and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser.

Andrew Intrater, the chief executive of Renova’s US subsidiary Columbus Nova, contributed $250,000 to Trump’s presidential inauguration fund in January last year and a further $35,000 to Trump’s re-election fund in June last year.

It was not clear from Avenatti’s document – which was made public via a link posted on his Twitter account – whether these contributions were connected to the new allegations. Intrater did not immediately respond to an email asking whether the allegations were accurate.

Avenatti has become one of the most publicly visible foes of Trump and Cohen since being recruited to represent Clifford in the fallout of the payoff and secrecy agreement arranged by Cohen being publicly revealed. Clifford has filed civil lawsuits against Trump and Cohen.

Avenatti told the Guardian last weekend, without offering any new evidence, that he believed Trump would have to resign: “I firmly believe there is going to be too much evidence of wrongdoing by him and those around him for him to be able to survive the balance of his term.”