Michael Avenatti, the Stormy Daniels attorney who published a damaging report this week showing President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, ran a shell company that took in millions of dollars from corporations after Trump’s election, hinted on Friday that Cohen paid out “large sums of money” from that shell company, too.
“In 2017-18 – Why was Mr. Cohen paying Demeter Direct Inc. in Los Angeles large sums of money from his Essential Consultants LLC account? Keep attacking me Mr. Giuliani and Fox News. Please.,” Avenatti tweeted in response to attacks from Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s newest lawyer.
A search of state public records shows that Demeter Direct, Inc. is a California-based entity linked to a person named Mark S. Ko. Documents for the company describe it as a Korean food retailer. but an archive of the company’s website shows it as a business strategy, consulting, and investment firm. The website was no longer live as of this writing.
An address listed for Demeter Direct, Inc. is located inside a high-rise apartment building near downtown Los Angeles. Another company name, PK2 Entertainment, is also linked to the Los Angeles address, and to Ko.
The apartment is a two-bedroom, two-bath unit that was last sold in 2011 for $420,000. Its current property value is $472,909, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office.
A possible middle-man for Cohen
According to CNN reporter MJ Lee, a man identified as the CEO of Demeter Direct was a “middle-man” in dealings between Cohen and Korea Aerpspace Industries (KAI). That company paid $150,000 to Cohen’s Essential Consultants, LLC. Lee writes that KAI had no direct contact with Cohen. Ko’s work with Cohen ended in November 2017, according to Lee.
A company called Alkatek maintained Demeter Direct, Inc.’s and PK2 Entertainment’s websites. It allegedly tweeted about a financial services company in July 2017: “A financial svc biz in #SoCal just signed up for our #DigitalMarketing services. Now that’s how you handle #TROPICALSTORMDON! #MAGA.”
The precise nature of the services for which Cohen allegedly paid “large sums of money” to Demeter Direct was not immediately clear. The company’s website archive shows Verizon, Sony, FedEx, and Union Bank of California as some of its clients.
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