INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It is claimed Cohen received $500,000 from a billionaire in the months after the 2016 US election
(File)WASHINGTON: An attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels said on Wednesday he has more evidence of ties
between a Russian oligarch sanctioned by the United States and a payment to U.S
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and questioned other companies' dealings with Cohen's firm.In television
interviews, attorney Michael Avenatti also called for the release of bank records detailing hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to
Cohen's Essential Consultants LLC made by ATT , Novartis AG , Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd and Columbus Nova LLC, a New York-based
investment firm linked to businessman Viktor Vekselberg, who has ties to the Kremlin.Avenatti's comments followed a statement he made on
Tuesday about payments to Cohen's firm in 2017 and 2018, after Trump won the November 2016 presidential election
The companies later confirmed the payments.New questions being raised about Cohen's role and work for Trump could further pressure Cohen
after the FBI raided his home and office last month as part of a criminal investigation of his business dealings and a payment to Daniels
The porn star said she had sex with Trump once in 2006 and kept in touch with him for a while, which Trump has denied.The White House
referred questions to Trump's outside lawyers
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said the outside legal team had no comment on Avenatti's allegations.The revelation also drew attention to
another potential line of inquiry in U.S
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S
election and potential collusion by Trump's campaign
intelligence agency conclusions of tampering and Trump denies any coordination with Russian officials and his campaign.Cohen on Wednesday
told reporters Avenatti's report was inaccurate.It was not immediately clear how Avenatti knew about the payments, and he declined to say
how in TV interviews with ABC and MSNBC.His client Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said Cohen paid her $130,000 a month
before the election to stay quiet about the sexual encounter
Daniels has filed two related lawsuits against Trump and Cohen.BANK RECORD INVESTIGATIONThe U.S
Treasury Department's inspector general's office said it had opened an investigation into whether confidential banking records involving
Cohen may have been leaked.Spokesman Rich Delmar said the office was looking into whether so-called bank suspicious activity reports, or
SARs, or Bank Secrecy Act information had been "improperly disseminated." The Washington Post first reported the investigation.Avenatti has
repeatedly called for SARs relating to Cohen to be released.Avenatti declined to comment on the probe, and Stephen Ryan, an attorney for
Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.ATT on Tuesday said it sought insights into the new administration from
Essential Consultants, but did not engage in lobbying
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that ATT paid more than $200,000 to Cohen's company.On Wednesday, Korea
Aerospace Industries (KAI) said it paid for accounting-related services, while Novartis cited healthcare consulting."Michael Cohen appears
to be selling access to the president of the United States," Avenatti told MSNBC.A lawyer for Columbus Nova has said Russian businessman
Vekselberg had nothing to do with the transaction, which Avenatti said amounted to $500,000."We have significant evidence to the contrary,"
Avenatti told ABC, without giving any details
"We haven't released all the evidence that we have."Vekselberg, who according to the New York Times has been questioned by Mueller's team,
could not be reached for comment
Peter Carr, the special counsel's spokesman, declined to comment. © Thomson Reuters 2018
