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A former IRS employee has been accused of disclosing the bank records of Michael Cohen, one of President Trump's attorneys, to Michael Avenatti, the movie star's lawyer. for adults Stormy Daniels, announced Thursday federal prosecutors.
John C. Fry, 54, was charged with unlawful disclosure of information obtained from so-called suspicious activity reports (SAR) and was released on bail of $ 50,000 after having appeared in federal court in San Francisco.
According to an affidavit from Linda Cieslak, special agent of the US Treasury Department, Fry repeatedly searched law enforcement databases for information about Cohen. Fry, an investigative analyst for the IRS 'security forces, who has been working for the agency since 2008, is accused of having access to five SARs, which are archived by the banks when transactions raise questions about possible financial irregularities.
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One of the reports that Fry reported would have shown that Cohen's essential consultants had received a total of $ 500,000 from Columbus Nova, a company associated with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch who had donated to the fund. inauguration of Trump. Other payments to Essential Consultants were from AT & T ($ 200,000) and Novartis Pharmaceuticals (approximately $ 399,920).
Cieslak stated that Fry had called Avenatti from his mobile phone three times and had verbally transmitted the information from the SAR to the lawyer. The officer added that Fry had admitted to having done so when investigators had confronted him in November.
According to the affidavit, Avenatti released the information obtained from Fry on Twitter on May 8: "Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen have a lot to explain." Avenatti refused to say how he got the records, saying to Fox News at the time: "This is my professional product and will not be disclosed."
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The affidavit also includes exchanges between Fry and journalist Ronan Farrow, who wrote an article for New Yorker magazine about the reasons for the leak. Farrow, identified as "Reporter-1" in the affidavit, wrote in an article published on May 16 that the law enforcement official who had published the report had become worried after being unable to find two other reports on Cohen's financial activity that he believed to have should have been in a government database.
According to Cieslak, Fry told investigators in November that Farrow had contacted him to confirm the information provided to Farrow by Avenatti.
Avenatti tweeted Thursday night: "Neither I nor R. Farrow have done anything wrong or illegal with the financial information about Cohen's crimes (the courts have concluded that the [federal Bank Secrecy Act] does not apply … And if we did it (we did not do it), all American journalists would be imprisoned and unable to do their job. "
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At the time of the revelations, Avenatti was facing a legal battle against Cohen for a payment of $ 130,000 to Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The payment was made in exchange for Daniels' silence about of an alleged sexual relationship with Trump, married, which took place more than ten years ago. Cohen pled guilty last August to funding the federal campaign and other offenses and was sentenced to three years in prison.
If found guilty, Fry incurs up to five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 13.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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