And now who defends Michael Cohen
And now who defends Michael Cohen? That’s the million dollar question, I mean, the 500,000-dollar one. That was the figure Donald Trump’s former lawyer received from a Russian billionaire after silencing with $ 130,000 adult actress Stormy Daniels. The reason for the money transfer is still unknown. The funny thing is that an issue of the US president was channeled through his personal account with the money of a Russian mogul. Is it too much a coincidence? Michael Avenatti, the actress' representative, in addition to revealing this fact explained that hundreds of thousands of dollars were channeled through companies such as Novartis, AT & T and Korea Aerospace, which have commercial interests with the United States’ government.
Avenatti’s document collects dates and specific amounts of money transferred by Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian businessman dedicated to the aluminum and oil industry. According to Forbes, his fortune is estimated at 14,600 million dollars.
In addition to him, a close relative made eight payments to Cohen's company, Essential Consultants, between January and August 2017 for a total of $ 500,000. The deposits to Cohen's account were made by Columbus Nova, an American investment company affiliated with the Renova Group, which is controlled by Vekselberg.
Although Stormy Daniels’ lawyer has not confirmed the source of his revelations, AT & T has proven the veracity of the payments. Avenatti, after an exhaustive investigation, has published a seven-page memorandum in which details the origin and destination of the transfers to pay the porn actress for her silence in October 2016 regarding the alleged affair with Trump.
AT & T also stated that Essential Consultants, Cohen's company, "was one of several companies with which they committed in early 2017, to provide information on how to understand the new government." Michael Avenatti's report shows evidence of four $ 50,000 payments to Cohen at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018.
Trump has denied any relationship with Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, but Rudy Giuliani unwittingly claimed the existence of the romance. Giuliani is the new legal representative of Trump and according to the lawyer, he is updating himself in the legal affairs of the president.
With the new data, the mystery about the possible Russian collusion and Trump's ties with Moscow becomes stronger. Although Michael Avenatti has in his memo the specificities of the payments, the reason they were done is still unknown. Neither the Office of the Special Prosecutor has made any statement, but it is possible that very soon they will also take matters into their own hands. Curiously the tracking of the money is precisely the fact that has been uncovering clues as the case progresses.
The issue entangles even more, analysing one of the companies involved has controversy with the Department of Justice, which attempts to block AT & T and Time Warner’s merging. It is very likely that the company sought favors through the president-elect's lawyer, but all this remains hypotheses and assumptions.
In the meanwhile, other companies such as Korea Aerospace have not responded to the alleged payments to Cohen, while Novartis like Pontius Pilate wiped his hands by saying they are not aware of agreements made by the previous CEO of the company.
Cliffords' lawyer suspects it was a "contribution" from "Donny" Trump to compensate the $ 130,000 "exit" from Cohen's account. However, Avenatti still has no evidence of this.
Avenatti's arguments have been refuted by Columbus Nova's lawyer, Richard Owens, who through a statement wanted to destroyed Clifford's advocate's evidence by pointing out that the company is "owned and controlled only by Americans".
Last month The Feds irrupted into the offices of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's ex-lawyer, and collected documentation and all kinds of binding evidence with Stormy Daniels’ case. However, in addition to the records referring to the case, other documents have come to light. Several of them reveal Cohen's shady dealings with people of dubious conduct.
So far, the New York attorney's office has not present charges against the former president's lawyer, but some conclude it is very likely Cohen will be prosecuted.