now let s talk about columbus nova that paid cohen half a million dollars. it made eight payments through august of 2017. it s allegedly controlled in part by a wealthy russian named vickor vekselberg. in a statement the company said it s owned and controlled by americans. we know so many of that is true because the firm s ceo is an american, also happens to be the cousin of vex vek. cohen actually plet tmet the tw them at trump s inauguration. now vekselberg denies he has a contractual relationship with cohen or his firm. vekselberg is one of the richest men in russia. he is an oligarch sanctioned by the u.s. last month. earlier this queer he was stopped and questions for agents working for robert mueller according to the new york times. we should note he hasn t been accused of any wrongdoing. we should also note you can t be an oligarch in russia without
it is a big company. they have investments in various industries. they are in the minerals industry, the oil industry, telecommunications industries in other investments that he has. this is kind the american investing arm of victor vekselberg. in addition to that, if ceo of columbus nova is andrew intrader, and he s a relative of vex vek. while there is a clear situation between the two companies to some degree to say they are entirely separate entities, say ge and at&t, yeah, it s not quite that way. he has what is being described as a complicated relationship with vladimir putin. why is it complicated? katy, vekselberg has always been looked at based on conversations we have had with former ambassadors and people in the intelligence and law enforcement community as a very different relationship than the other oligarchs. his relationship with vladimir putin during the 2008 financial