....[L]ast month the Trump administration placed him on a list of sanctioned Russians for activities including election interference. The purpose of the payments, which predate the sanctions, and the nature of the business relationship between Vekselberg and Cohen is unclear.
...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... FBI agents asked Vekselberg about payments his company's American affiliate, Columbus Nova, made to Cohen, according to one source. The Russian was questioned as well about $300,000 in political donations by Andrew Intrater, Vekselberg's American cousin who is the head of Columbus Nova, sources said.
I think the multiple probes into Cohen and Paul Manafort, and their Ukranian, Russian and Kazakhstan oligarch connections and how the oligarchs and their proxy people bought into Trump. Org. properties, using banks in Cypress, Russia and the UK are the more interesting part of the ongoing story. Trump Soho is just part of the story.
No matter where you look, Felix Sater and Bayrock are in the middle. Michael Cohen has been friends with Sater since childhood. According to the New York Times, Cohen and Sater were the emissaries bringing a proposal to Trump to lessen sanctions against Russia.
There's also the Republican convention brouhaha where there was a proposal to lessen support for the Ukranian separatists in the Republican platform. [More...]
A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.
Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Mueller's going one way (Russian interference in the election and obstruction of justice and lies), and the U.S. Attorneys in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York are going in another direction. (money laundering). Giuliani is just a sideshow.
