A U.S. official with expertise in oligarchs says Vekselberg had an established model for seeking influence — identify areas of potential investment, provide funds to his proxies, and then let those proxies find “avenues” to move money to get the deals done — which could mean contributions or payments to individuals as needed.
A company controlled by Vekselberg made $500,000 in payments made to former Trump attorney and convicted felon Michael Cohen. The payments were first disclosed by Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti and came from a company called Columbus Nova, based in the U.S. and run by Vekselberg’s cousin Andrew Intrater. The payments went to Cohen’s company “Essential Consultants” which was the same company that Cohen used to wire Daniels $130,000.
In 2018, Andrey Shtorkh, a spokesman for Vekselberg, told NBC News that neither Vekselberg nor Renova “has ever had any contractual relationship with Mr. Cohen or Essential Consultants.” “As to a relationship between Columbus Nova and Mr. Cohen you have to ask Mr. Andy Intrater, because Columbus Nova is a company owned and managed by him.”
More recently Intrater’s contributions to George Santos’ campaign have come under scrutiny. Including $23,700 in publicly listed FEC campaign donations in 2022to Santos’ campaign or related PACs. In 2021 he donated $5,800 to Santos’ campaign as well.