Cohen: Trump's Open For Business (UPDATED)

With the bombshell news late yesterday that Trump fixer and bumbling lawyer Michael Cohen received in excess of $4.4 million through his "Essential Consultants LLC" shell company, new investigatory avenues have opened up, potentially leading to con man and serial liar Donald "Rump" Trump. One interesting "client" of Cohen's appears to have been sanctioned Russian oligarch with close ties to autocratic thug Vladimir Putin, Viktor Vekselberg, who kicked in $500,000 in eight transfers via a U.S. subsidiary controlled by his Renova Group:

"[Michael] Avenatti said Vekselberg and his cousin, Andrew Intrater, made eight transfers to Cohen between January and August 2017 through a U.S.-based company called Columbus Nova LLC for a total of $500,000.

A lawyer for Columbus Nova said Vekselberg had nothing to do with the transactions.

Columbus Nova was listed by Renova Group as one of its companies as of November 2017, according to an archived webpage for Renova, whose website now says it is under construction. Renova Group is a conglomerate controlled by Vekselberg.

The United States imposed sanctions last month on Vekselberg and Renova to retaliate for the Kremlin’s suspected meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other “malign activity.” (emphasis added)

We imagine Vekselberg was counting on that $500,000 to help the Rump crew see their way clear to lifting sanctions. Other "clients" of Cohen's "Essential Consultants" scam include telecom giant AT&T, which provided Cohen with $200,000 to "provide insights into understanding the new administration." AT&T is involved in a major merger with Time Warner subject to the approval of the Rump administration, so their desire to "understand" the new administration has a clear odor about it.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has already interviewed Vekselberg (as he was deplaning in the U.S.), and undoubtedly has many others on his radar. Pay-to-play, or bribery as it might as well be called, seems to be at the heart of fixer Cohen's shell company. And if you think he was collecting those millions all for himself, you haven't watched or heard Rump over the years. Remember the analogy to a "crime family?" Who gets the biggest cut?

UPDATE:  Jonathan Chait on the heart of the matter --

... The payments gave Russia several sources of possible leverage over Cohen and Trump. First, the money itself could amount to some kind of bribe, in return for which a favor would be expected. Second, Russia had knowledge of the secret payoff, which it could always expose. Third, the possibility (at minimum) exists that Russia knew the account was being used to silence Trump’s mistresses, yet another source of kompromat.

UPDATE II: Pharma giant Novartis says Cohen reached out to them indicating that he could open doors for them with Rump and his administration. They paid him $1.2 million. Pay-to-play, anyone!