Im surprised they thought they could keep this a secret. And of course, we can assume Mueller knows (he apparently met the plane of the Russian Oligarch and questioned him). But hilarious that it's the lawyer for a woman Trump lies about sleeping with that is relentlessly pursuing all this. he should have just admitted it and released her from the NDA. Its now the least of his worries.
What seems to be the case is, Cohen set up this fake business to accept money from people and companies, likely for the benefit of Trump. We dont know for sure if the money passed directly to Trump or if it was a slush fund for dirty tricks (like with Nixon) or if it was a slush fund for pay offs. We know Stormy was paid by this company. So money IN for access to the president and money OUT for shutting people up. Man, that stinks.
These companies that are linked all have different excuses too. The smelliest is the attempt by the Russian and the American-based arm of the same company denying they have any link. I believe it was Cohen's own bank filings that lists the American cousin as the CEO of the company that is called the US based branch of the Russian Oligarch.
Let's unpack this (its complicated):
Cohen received $500,000 from Columbus Nova whose CEO is Andrew Intrater. He's American but his cousin is Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg who has close ties to Putin. Intrater was also a member of Trump's Inauguration committee and donated generously to the Inauguration fund, Trump Victory Fund and Republican National Committee.
Columbus Nova claims it has no connection to Russian-based Renova Group which is owned by Vekselberg. But on an FEC filing, Intrater is listed as head of "Renova US Management".
These payments increased after Trump was elected. Novartis, another company that gave money to Cohen, tried to distance itself by saying it was a previous CEO that made the deal of $100,000 per MONTH paid to Cohen.
This is shady pay for play slush fund ****.
But remember, no connection whatsoever ever to Russia, right?
Oh and guess who was wiped from Columbus Nova's website today? Their CEO Andrew Intrater. Nothing to see here.