Michael Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times
Mark Cuban.
- President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen pitched billionaire businessman Mark Cuban on hiring a health-industry firm the attorney had taken on as a client.
- "Michael is a hustler," Cuban told The Wall Street Journal. "That's who he is, that's what he does."
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban told The Wall Street Journal that President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, pitched him on hiring a health-industry firm that the attorney had taken on as a client.
"I want you to know I'm looking out for deals," Cohen told Cuban in April 2017, Cuban recalled to The Journal.
"Michael is a hustler," Cuban said. "That's who he is, that's what he does."
The specific health-industry firm was not immediately clear. Cohen did have a deal with the pharmaceutical firm Novartis at the time.
Cuban's comment comes days after Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, published documents showing some of Cohen's post-presidential election financial dealings. The documents showed that Cohen was able to land lucrative deals with companies such as Novartis, telecom giant AT&T, Korea Aerospace Industries, and the Russian-tied investment firm Columbus Nova, which the companies subsequently confirmed. The information Avenatti revealed could land Cohen, who is under criminal investigation, in more legal trouble.
Multiple people familiar with Cohen's offers to clients following the election said that he aggressively pitched himself.
"I don't know who's been representing you, but you should fire them all. I'm the guy you should hire," one GOP strategist described Cohen's sales pitch to CNN. "I'm closest to the president. I'm his personal lawyer."
The companies, which sought his proximity to and knowledge of Trump, paid Cohen more than $1.2 million through his shell company, Essential Consultants LLC. That is same firm he created to pay the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and has alleged a 2006 affair with Trump. Meanwhile, the law firm Squire Patton Boggs paid Cohen more than $2 million for advice on navigating Trump's government.
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Michael Cohen.
Cohen's friendship with Cuban
Cohen's friendship with Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," has been well-documented.
In one instance, Trump reportedly called Cohen to complain about a breakfast the lawyer had with Cuban, The Journal reported last month.
Cuban told The Journal then that he thinks Cohen has made a show of hanging out with him "to piss off Trump when Trump is ignoring him."