Russian paid Trump lawyer, porn star’s attorney says
WASHINGTON — Stormy Daniels’ lawyer said Tuesday he has information showing that Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney, received $500,000 US from a Russian billionaire within months of paying hush money to Daniels, a porn star who claims she had a tryst with Trump. He released no documents to support the claim and did not reveal the source of his information.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti released a seven-page memo detailing what he said were wire transfers going into and out of the account Cohen used to pay Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 to stay silent about her alleged affair. Trump denies having an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
The memo, containing highly specific dates and amounts, stated that Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire, and his cousin “routed” eight payments to Cohen’s company, Essential Consultants, between January and August 2017. The reason for the payment was not known.
The Avenatti memo says: “It appears these funds may have replenished the account following the payment to Ms. Clifford.”
Cohen’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“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,” the Avenatti memo said.
At the time of the payments, there was an active FBI counterintelligence investigation — which special counsel Robert Mueller took over last May — into Russian election interference and any possible co-ordination with Trump associates.
Vekselberg was targeted for U.S. sanctions by the Trump administration last month. He built his fortune, estimated by Forbes at $14.6 billion, by investing in the aluminum and oil industries.
The Avenatti memo says hundreds of thousands of dollars streamed into Cohen’s account from such companies as Novartis, AT&T and Korea Aerospace.
AT&T said in a statement: “Essential Consultants was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration.”