BTW Columbus Nova, which paid Cohen half a million dollars, isn't just any old New York-based investment firm that happens to have a Russian investor.
US firm that gave cash to Michael Cohen helped secure millions for Putin-linked oligarch
Files reviewed by Guardian shed new light on ties between Columbus Nova, Viktor Vekselberg and Kremlin-allied bankers
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/23/columbus-nova-michael-cohen-viktor-vekselberg-bank
The company is the US affiliate of Renova Group, a Moscow-based corporation owned by Viktor Vekselberg, one of Russia’s richest men.
Records reviewed by the Guardian show that American investment vehicles managed for Vekselberg by Columbus Nova were used to secure $450m in loans that Vekselberg took from the Russian state-controlled VTB Bank.
[...]
In Russia, VTB Capital had recently described itself as “pivotal in managing the state’s interests” and said Putin took an active interest in its operations. VTB was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2014 in response to Putin’s annexation of part of Ukraine. Vekselberg himself was recently sanctioned by the US.