Michael Cohen's attorneys are disputing findings in a damaging report on his financial dealings
- Attorneys for Michael Cohen are disputing some of the findings detailed in a revealing document that outlines details about some of his financial dealings.
- Michael Avenatti, the attorney for the adult-film star, Stormy Daniels, published the report, called Project Sunlight, on Tuesday.
- It shows, among other things, that a shell company linked to Cohen received large sums of money from a handful of corporate giants, ostensibly for insight on the Trump administration and potentially for access to President Donald Trump.
- Cohen's attorneys highlighted what they said were several errors in Project Sunlight, including references to other men also named Michael Cohen who are not related to Trump's longtime personal attorney.
Attorneys for Michael Cohen are disputing portions of a revealing document that outlines details of some of Cohen's financial dealings. The report, dubbed "Project Sunlight," was published by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represents adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who Cohen paid $130,000 to keep quiet about a 2006 affair she said she had with Trump.
According to Avenatti's findings a shell company linked to Cohen called Essential Consultants LLC received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a handful of corporate giants, allegedly for consulting services related to the Trump administration.
Several of those companies, including AT&T, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, among others have confirmed their payments to Essential Consultants.
In a court filing on Wednesday, Cohen's attorneys highlighted what they said were several errors in the Project Sunlight report - including references to other men also named Michael Cohen who are not related to Trump's longtime personal lawyer.
Cohen's attorneys homed in on the apparent errors, and criticized Avenatti accordingly:
"Mr. Avenatti's conduct in somehow obtaining random bank records and publishing them without proper concern for their accuracy is extremely troubling for the parties in this case, the Court and the public," the filing reads.
Avenatti hit back, emphasizing that Cohen's attorneys did not dispute elements of Project Sunlight he says are most damaging to Cohen. "They fail to address, let alone contradict 99% of the statement in what we released," Avenatti said on Wednesday.
The report could complicate things for Cohen, who is already the subject of a federal criminal investigation surrounding years of his business dealings that pre-date his work for Trump. The FBI raided his properties last month as part of that probe.