Thread by @KlasfeldReports

NEW: The Michael Cohen search warrants have been released in redacted form. Diving into them now, but there are hundreds of pages of them.

This is only a partial list of the documents.

This is the number and length of the documents we're talking about here.

It's going to take awhile to process and upload these. Standby.

The false statements to banks section has quite a lengthy catalogue of Cohen's dealings with Essential Consultants, including all of the transactions involving Novartis, AT&T & other entities.

Pictured here: Cohen's dealings with the Kazakh bank he was grilled about in Congress.

Here is another passage about Michael Cohen's ties to Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, via Columbus Nova, which is controlled by Renova.

In addition to all of the April 2018 search warrants, the FBI also obtained warrants for Cohen's email accounts that February.

The FBI was investigating Cohen for nearly a year before the raid.

Here's a section referring to search warrants for his emails obtained in July 2017, which are not part of this trove.

The FBI says that Cohen opened his Essential Consultants account at First Republic before the month before the 2016 presidential election.

The account "received substantial payments from foreign sources," the FBI says.

What follows is redacted.

Important find here:

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1107994941312155648

This is a quick and dirty write up of the avalanche of documents made public today. Look out for updates soon at @CourthouseNews.

The upshot: The FBI investigated Cohen nearly a year before the raids and suspected then he was acting as a foreign agent.

courthousenews.com/avalanche-of-m…

Oct. 1, 2016: "the approximate date of when Cohen's efforts to sell his taxi medallions and the associated debt began," per the FBI.

The agent was aware of "at least one other email account associated with [Cohen's] position at the Trump Organization."

Intriguing redacted graf.

Remember when @MichaelAvenatti released a document detailing Michael Cohen's "suspicious transactions" related to Essential Consultants and Ukrainian-born oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

From May '18: courthousenews.com/stormys-lawyer…

Lots on that in this warrant: documentcloud.org/documents/5775…

Compare the report from then to this paragraph from the FBI agent's April 8, 2018, affidavit.

Another update is on the editing queue, but to clarify FBI's timeline a bit more on the thread.

2014: Cohen refinances taxi medallion loans for ~$22M
Oct. 1, '16: Cohen tries to sell medallions and associated debt
Oct. 26, '16: Cohen opens Essential Consultants LLC bank account

Shortly after Trump's inauguration, per newly unsealed docs:

Jan. 31, '17: Cohen starts receiving 7 monthly payments of $83,333 from Columbus Nova, controlled by Vekselberg's Renova Group.
April-May '17: Cohen peddles access to AT&T, Novartis and others via Essential Consultants

Fun detail: "Cohen’s withdrawals from the Essential Consultants account reveal that it was used for largely personal purposes, including to pay, among other things, American Express bills and fees from 'the Core Club,' a private social club in New York."

nytimes.com/2011/06/19/fas…

My latest update is live on @CourthouseNews, clarifying the timeline. courthousenews.com/avalanche-of-m…

If you want to pick apart some of the files, you can find them here, here, and here:
documentcloud.org/documents/5775…
documentcloud.org/documents/5775…
documentcloud.org/documents/5775…

Today's bounty has 5 more.

Interesting observation from @JRiley8832:

Unlike the broader April search warrants, the February ones for the email accounts do not cite probable cause for campaign finance violations.

This could suggest the probe expanded between this window.

Remember: The investigations into false statements to banks and campaign finance violations share something in common.

Essential Consultants, a broad focus of the papers unsealed today.

Note: The FBI affidavit described Columbus Nova as "controlled by" the Renova Group, owned by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. (See left)

Columbus Nova disputes this, sending the statement on the right to reporters asserting that it's "solely owned and controlled by Americans."

Enjoyed speaking with @IanMastersMedia about the unsealed Michael Cohen search warrants. During our chat, I noted that the same court (SDNY) had a fight to unseal the FBI's thin warrant on Clinton. By contrast, the Cohen warrants.... much thicker.

Listen: soundcloud.com/user-830442635…

If you remember, the unsealed warrant in the pre-election surprise for Clinton was 21 pages and had little unknown factual detail. The Cohen warrants, by contrast, spanned eight documents, hundreds of pages, and lots of juicy details that reporters continue to explore.

Among the many topics from the interview:

* Viktor Vekselberg and Essential Consultants
* FBI allegations of probable cause FARA
* Hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

Note on Vekselberg: He was sanctioned three days before Cohen raid. home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…