On May 8, Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, dropped a link to documents that showed that Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer who arranged hush money payments to Daniels, had been funneling money from a Russian oligarch and various companies through his LLC. Avenatti claims this is how Cohen was paid back for paying off Daniels.

Avenatti’s documents appear to be SARs from a bank, and seem to outline a pay-to-play scandal between the Trump administration and various companies, as well.

Resources from May 8

• Avenatti’s “Executive Summary,” ie, the initial docs he dropped on Twitter.
• Daily Beast: Michael Cohen Took Cash From Oligarch-Connected Firm After Election
• CNN: Exclusive: Mueller’s team questions Russian oligarch about payments to Cohen
• Dallas News: How Putin’s oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns (12/15/17, updated 5/8/18)
• New York Times: Viktor Vekselberg, Russian Billionaire, Was Questioned by Mueller’s Investigators
• The Atlantic: Trump’s Two Biggest Scandals Converge in a Single Tweet
• Mother Jones: Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Claims Russian Oligarch Paid $500,000 to Michael Cohen
• New York Times: Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen

Resources from May 9

• Politico: Mueller team questioned Novartis last year over Michael Cohen payments
• Business Insider: Stormy Daniels’s lawyer warns that more ‘bombshells’ are coming
• Vox: Michael Cohen’s LLC got secret corporate payments. America needs to know if Trump’s shell companies did too.
• Bloomberg: Money Flowed to Michael Cohen. Where Did It Go?
• TPM: Untangling The Web Of Payments Between Cohen And Elliott Broidy
• STATNews: Trump’s lawyer pitched himself as a fixer to Novartis and got paid $1.2 million
• Reuters: Exclusive – Novartis investigating $85 million bribery allegations in Turkey
• Washington Post: How money flowed through Michael Cohen’s multi-purpose shell company
• ThinkProgress: Why did Columbus Nova register websites aimed at young white supremacists?
• Washington Post: ‘I’m crushing it’: How Michael Cohen, touting his access to President Trump, convinced companies to pay millions
• New York Times: How Michael Cohen, Denied Job in White House, Was Seen as Its Gatekeeper

Resources from May 10

• NPR: Trump Lawyer Cohen’s Camp Rips ‘Inaccurate’ Allegations, Concedes Some Payments
• Washington Post: A taxonomy of Michael Cohen and potential Trump corruption

Featured Photo: Michael Cohen, by IowaPolitics.com. (Source & licensing.)

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