President Trump's personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen met with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg at Trump Tower in New York City 11 days before the 2017 inauguration.
NYT:
In Mr. Cohen’s office on the 26th floor, he and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump, according to Andrew Intrater, an American businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Mr. Vekselberg. The men also arranged to see one another at the inauguration, the second of their three meetings, Mr. Intrater said.
CNN:
Intrater's firm, Columbus Nova, paid $580,000 to Cohen for a consulting contract starting in January 2017.
Since the payments have become public, Columbus Nova has attempted to distance itself from Vekselberg, denying Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit to pay Cohen. Columbus Nova recently removed references to Renova Group from the biography of its partners. It has stated it's a "management company solely owned and controlled by Americans," and that it hired Cohen after Trump's inauguration.
NYT:
Mr. Intrater said in an interview that Mr. Vekselberg, his cousin and biggest client, had no role in Columbus Nova’s decision to hire Mr. Cohen as a consultant. When asked about the meeting at Trump Tower during the presidential transition, Mr. Intrater described it as a brief and impromptu discussion, and said that Mr. Vekselberg had not originally planned to attend.
(...)
The meeting came after Mr. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., met at Trump Tower during the campaign with a Kremlin-linked lawyer claiming to have damaging information on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and a former campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, met with Russian intermediaries in Europe. During the campaign, Mr. Cohen was pursuing a deal to build a Trump high-rise in Moscow, which did not come to fruition.
CNN:
Vekselberg was questioned by FBI agents working with Mueller earlier this year about the Columbus Nova payments to Cohen, as well as more than $300,000 in donations made by Intrater to Trump's inauguration and the Republican National Committee, sources said.
Intrater was also questioned, the sources said.
Russian oligarch met with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower during transition (CNN)
At Trump Tower, Michael Cohen and Oligarch Discussed Russian Relations (NYT)