Drew Angerer/Getty Images Michael Cohen.
- The Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg met with President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, 11 days before Trump's inauguration, The New York Times reported.
- During the meeting, which took place at Trump Tower, Vekselberg and Cohen reportedly discussed how to improve US-Russia relations under Trump's presidency.
- Andrew Intrater, Vekselberg's cousin and the head of the investment firm Columbus Nova LLC, told The Times that Cohen and Vekselberg met three times, including at the inauguration.
- Shortly after the inauguration, Columbus Nova signed a $1 million consulting contract with Cohen, a deal that's now under the scrutiny of federal investigators.
Sign up for the latest Russia investigation updates here »
Eleven days before he attended President Donald Trump's inauguration, a prominent Russian oligarch met with Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer to discuss improving US-Russia relations under a Trump presidency, The New York Times reported Friday.
The Russian energy tycoon Viktor Vekselberg met with Michael Cohen at Cohen's office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, the American businessman Andrew Intrater told The Times.
Intrater, a relative of Vekselberg who donated $250,000 to Trump's inaugural committee, is the head of the US investment firm Columbus Nova LLC. The company paid Cohen approximately $500,000 in consulting fees between January and August 2017 and is a subsidiary of Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate founded by Vekselberg.
Columbus Nova has sought to distance itself from Vekselberg and Renova Group since records of the payments to Cohen first emerged earlier this month, but according to The Guardian, Columbus Nova secured Vekselberg $450 million in loans from the Russian state-owned bank VTB Bank.
Intrater told The Times that Vekselberg and Cohen met three times. The second time they met was during Trump's inauguration, which was attended by at least six Putin-allied Russians, including Vekselberg.
Shortly after the inauguration, Columbus Nova signed a $1 million consulting contract with Cohen, a deal that's now under the scrutiny of federal investigators, the report said.
Intrater added that Vekselberg had not originally intended to meet with Cohen at Trump Tower, and said that if he had known Cohen would later be the focus of several federal criminal inquiries, Intrater would not have hired him or introduced him to Vekselberg.
Cohen's dealings are the subject of an investigation by the Manhattan US attorney's office into whether the president's lawyer committed bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations in connection to payments made to women who claim they had affairs with Trump.
Cohen admitted earlier this year to paying one of those women, porn star Stormy Daniels, $130,000 days before the election in exchange for her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006, shortly after Trump's third wife, Melania, gave birth to their child.
Cohen initially said he borrowed against his home equity to pay Clifford and that Trump was not aware of the agreement. But it soon emerged that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the payment.
Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, implied that if
Special counsel Robert Mueller is also said to be interested in whether Cohen and other Trump associates facilitated Russian influence over the 2016 US election and US policy after Trump won.
Mueller's focus on Russian oligarchs comes as investigators are looking into whether wealthy Russians illegally funneled money, either directly or indirectly, into Trump's campaign or inauguration. Prosecutors are also said to be interested in whether wealthy Russians used American donors or US companies with political action committees to infuse money into the election.