Pharmaceutical giant Novartis said it has been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller after revealing it paid President Trump’s personal lawyer $1.2 million for healthcare consulting.
“Novartis cooperated fully with the Special Counsel’s office and provided all the information requested,” Novartis spokeswoman Sofina Mirza-Reid said in a statement early Wednesday. “Novartis considers this matter closed as to itself and is not aware of any outstanding questions regarding the agreement.”
The acknowledgment comes after Novartis was named in a document Tuesday night made public by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels.
[Also read: Stormy Daniels’ attorney has one main legal strategy]
Daniels is suing Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to be released from a contract she signed to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Cohen paid her $130,000 to stay quiet.
[Rudy Giuliani: Trump repaid Michael Cohen for $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels]
Last month, FBI agents in New York raided Cohen’s home and office after a “referral” from Mueller, and he is currently under federal criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York.
According to Avenatti, Cohen paid Daniels through Essential Consultants, a firm that was hired by Novartis, and other companies including AT&T and Columbus Nova.
In a lengthier statement Wednesday, Novartis said it entered into a one-year agreement with Essential Consultants in February 2017 because they believed Cohen “could advise the company as to how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. healthcare policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act.”
The contract paid Essential Consultants $100,000 monthly for a year for a total of $1.2 million.
But after one meeting with Cohen in March 2017, Novartis said it determined Essential Consultants would be “unable to provide the services” it anticipated and decided “not to engage further.” And because the contract could only be “terminated for cause,” payments to Cohen continued until its end in February 2018.
The engagement of Essential Consultants and Cohen predated Vas Narasimham becoming Novartis CEO, the statement says, and that he was in “no way involved” with the contract.
On Tuesday, Avenatti alleged Cohen was involved in payments from his Essential Consultants bank account totaling more than $4.4 million from October 2016 to January 2018.
Of that, more than $200,000 was paid from AT&T and $500,000 from Columbus Nova.
In addition to Novartis, AT&T and Columbus Nova have confirmed in statements they had business relationships with Cohen.
Columbus Nova is U.S.-based, and Avenatti claims Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and his cousin Andrew Intrater — who is a U.S. citizen — control it through their equity firm Renova Group.
In a statement, Columbus Nova said it hired Cohen as “a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures.”
Columbus Nova also denied that Vekselberg “used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen,” and that is is “not owned by any foreign entity or person” and has been “100 percent owned” by U.S. citizens.
Vekselberg — Russia’s fourth wealthiest person with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin — is the chairman of Renova Group, a large Russian conglomerate, and attended Trump’s swearing-in last year. He is one of two Russian oligarchs who was reportedly stopped by FBI investigators earlier this year as part of Mueller’s probe.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department put Vekselberg on a list of sanctioned Russians because of Ronova’s work in the aluminum, oil, energy and telecoms sectors.
“Viktor Vekselberg is being designated for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy,” the Treasury said in its announcement.
A 2007 Security and Exchange Commission filing identifies Columbus Nova as “the U.S.-based affiliate of the Renova Group of companies, one of the largest Russian strategic investors in the metallurgical, oil, machine engineering, mining, chemical, construction, housing and utilities and financial sectors.”
