The Department of Justice is investigating how Michael Cohen’s personal bank records ended up in the hands of lawyer Michael Avenatti and news outlets.
Spearheading the criminal investigation is the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California. Criminal charges could be announced soon, CNN reported Wednesday.
Avenatti, the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her cases against President Trump and Cohen, Trump’s former longtime attorney, posted a document last May detailing transactions made to a company controlled by Cohen by large firms that had business interests before the U.S. government.
The payments were made to Essential Consultants LLC, a shell company Cohen had also used to make hush money payments to Daniels to keep her from speaking about about her alleged affair with Trump.
Several news outlets reported at the time that they had also reviewed documents detailing the transactions.
Cohen’s attorney alleged the records were illegally obtained.
Avenatti has not revealed how he obtained the information, which appeared to come from a Suspicious Activity Report. Banks are required to file such confidential reports with the Treasury Department when they suspect someone is money laundering, financing terrorism, or otherwise participating in other illicit activity.
The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2018 that the bank Cohen used to pay Daniels filed a SAR.
After Avenatti posted the document, the New Yorker published a story about a “law enforcement official” the magazine said was the person who leaked Cohen’s SAR. The official said the financial records were leaked because he or she feared a cover-up after the reports were said to be missing from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network database.
In response, the inspector general for the Treasury Department launched an investigation into how the financial records were released. That investigation has yet to conclude.
