# Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Vekselberg is a Russian billionaire oligarch and founder/chairman of the Renova Group, one of Russia's largest privately held conglomerates. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in April 2018 under the CAATSA framework targeting figures close to the Kremlin. Vekselberg entered the U.S. hush-money story through his American cousin Andrew Intrater and the investment firm [[Columbus Nova]] (Renova's largest U.S. client), which paid Trump fixer [[Michael Cohen]] roughly $500,000 in 2017 through the same shell company, Essential Consultants, that Cohen had used to pay Stormy Daniels — a thread documented in the [[Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case]]. Vekselberg and Columbus Nova denied that he funded or directed the Cohen payments. > [!note] Stub > Minimum-viable page created to resolve a wikilink. Expand with the Renova empire, the 2018 sanctions, Mueller-probe questioning, and the Columbus Nova/Cohen payments detail. ## See Also - [[Columbus Nova]] - [[Michael Cohen]] - [[Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case]] - [[Russia]]