The Mystery Of Michael Cohen’s Missing $350K Check

Michael Cohen Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis April 16, 2017

A report today in Buzzfeed highlights a curious lawsuit involving President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

According to Buzzfeed, Cohen was sued in 2009 over a $350,000 check written a decade earlier. The check was allegedly deposited in an escrow account controlled by Cohen in 1999.

According to the suit, the money went missing. Cohen testified at the time that he didn’t remember where the money had come from, or what had happened to it.

The story gets murkier from there. The check was written by Vladimir Malakhov, at the time an NHL player. It was intended as a loan to a Russian woman named Yulia Fomina.

Cohen won the lawsuit and was not disciplined by New York State Bar Association in connection with the incident.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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