UPDATE: The Daily Beast provides more information on Columbus Nova's attempt to distance itself from Vekselberg.
... Columbus Nova's own website says the company is "the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group"—Vekselberg's asset management firm. The site also notes that Intrater "is a former Director and current Member of the Executive Board of Renova Group.”
In addition, Columbus Nova was listed on the website for the Renova Group as one of its "companies" until late last year, as NBC News reported. (That website is currently "under construction.")
Through Renova, Vekselberg has holdings all over the world—including a 26.2 percent stake in Rusal, the aluminum producing giant owned by Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch now infamous for bankrolling former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort. Both Deripaska and Vekselberg were sanctioned by the U.S. government in early April. But later that month, the U.S. Treasury Department, in effect, slow-rolled the sanctions, giving companies and individuals until late October to get out of business with Rusal, which is appealing Washington’s ruling. “Given the impact on our partners and allies, we are... extending the maintenance and wind-down period while we consider RUSAL’s petition,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
Michael Cohen Took Cash From Oligarch-Connected Firm After Election (The Daily Beast)
Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' now well-known attorney, posted an Executive Summary document online Tuesday that alleges Michael Cohen opened an LLC in October 2016 and not only used money in the LLC's bank account to pay Stormy Daniels but also received funds deposited to the account from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
On October 27, 2016 Mr. Cohen caused a wire of $130,000 from Essential Consultants’account at First Republic Bank to be sent to an Attorney Client Trust Account of Keith M.Davidson & Associates at City National Bank located in California. The wire originated from First Republic Bank’s operations located in California.Note: this fact may provide the State of California with jurisdiction over possible state criminal charges associated with this payment.
Mr. Cohen has previously claimed that the source of funds from the $130,000 payment was a home equity line of credit advance conducted on October 26, 2016. This has yet to be confirmed. However, as detailed below, within approximately 75 days of the payment to Ms. Clifford, Mr. Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian Oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, caused substantial funds to be deposited into the bank account from which Mr. Cohen made the payment. It appears that these funds may have replenished the account following the payment to Ms. Clifford.
Avenatti's document also details multiple payments Mr.Vekselberg and his cousin made to Cohen's LLC for eight months in 2017.
From October 2016 through January 2018, Mr. Cohen used his First Republic account to engage in suspicious financial transactions totaling $4,425,033.46.
Chief among these suspicious financial transactions are approximately $500,000 in payments received from Mr. Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian Oligarch with an estimated net worth of nearly $13 Billion. Mr. Vekselberg and his cousin Mr. Andrew Intraterrouted eight payments to Mr. Cohen through a company named Columbus Nova LLC(“Columbus”) beginning in January 2017 and continuing until at least August 2017.
Columbus Nova is a private equity firm founded in 2000 with over $2 billion in assets. Mr. Intrater is the CEO of Columbus Nova.Columbus Nova is the U.S. investment vehicle for Renova Group, a multi-national company controlled by Mr. Vekselberg. Renova group holds investments in various interests, including mining, oil, and telecommunications.
Mr. Cohen inexplicably accepted these payments while he was the personal attorney to the President and holding himself out at times as employed by the Trump Organization (with few other clients). This was occurring at the same time significant questions were being raised relating to (a) the involvement of Russia and Vladimir Putin in the 2016 Presidential Election and (b) the extent of the relationship between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump.
The Daily Beast claims it has confirmed the Vekselberg part of Avenatti's allegations.
The Daily Beast can confirm that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company controlled by Putin-aligned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
The New York Times does too.
The Times’s review of financial records confirmed much of what was in Mr. Avenatti’s report. In addition, a review of emails and interviews shed additional light on Mr. Cohen’s dealings with the company connected to Mr. Vekselberg, who was stopped and questioned at an airport earlier this year by investigators for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel examining Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
(...)
Among the other payments to Mr. Cohen’s company described in the financial records were four for $99,980 each between October 2017 and January 2018 by Novartis Investments SARL, a subsidiary of Novartis, the multinational pharmaceutical giant based in Switzerland ...
In addition, Korea Aerospace Industries paid Mr. Cohen’s company $150,000 last November, according to the records. The company, an aircraft manufacturer, is partners with Lockheed Martin, the American defense contractor, in competition for a multibillion dollar contract to provide trainer jets for the United States Air Force that is expected to be awarded this year ...
AT&T made four payments totaling $200,000 between October 2017 and January 2018, according to the documents. AT&T, whose proposed merger with Time Warner is pending before the Justice Department, issued a statement on Tuesday evening confirming that it made payments to Mr. Cohen’s firm.
Columbus Nova released a statement countering allegations Vekselberg paid Cohen.
In a statement, an attorney for Columbus Nova said the management firm is owned and controlled by Americans, not Vekselberg.
"After the inauguration, the firm hired Michael Cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures," the statement said.
"Reports today that Viktor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false. The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova's engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue.
"Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Nova's owners, were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement."
Vekselberg was one of the oligarchs the Trump Treasury Department sanctioned at the beginning of April, and The New York Times reported just a few days ago that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's agents stopped and questioned Vekselberg at a New York area airport about two months ago.
CNN:
The questions asked of Vekselberg suggest that Mueller investigators have been examining some of Cohen's business relationships as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Vekselberg is one of two Russian oligarchs the FBI stopped earlier this year after their private jets landed in New York-area airports as part of Mueller's investigation.
Investigators also asked Vekselberg about donations the head of his US affiliate made to Trump's inaugural fund and campaign funds, sources said.
Vekselberg was one of several rich Russians who attended the president's inauguration in DC in January 2017.
Michael Cohen Took Cash From Russian Oligarch After Election (The Daily Beast)
Exclusive: Mueller's team questions Russian oligarch about payments to Cohen (CNN)
Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen (NYT)
Daniels' lawyer: Cohen got $500K from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg (NBC News)