President Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen tesified Feb. 27 about why drug giant Novartis paid him $1.2 million, reigniting a headache for Novartis, according to STAT.
Mr. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December for crimes tied to campaign finance violations, tax fraud and lying to Congress.
Six things to know:
1. Novartis initially gained public attention in 2018 when news broke that its then-CEO Joe Jimenez and former legal head Felix Ehrat signed off on $1.2 million in payments to Mr. Cohen for healthcare policy lobbying services. At the time, Mr. Cohen was working at Essentials Consultants, a company he founded.
2. Mr. Cohen testified Feb. 27 that although Novartis wanted lobbying services, he refused.
3. Novartis wanted access to President Donald Trump, which is why they sought out Mr. Cohen, he testified.
"[Novartis] came to me based on my knowledge of the enigma Donald Trump," Cohen told Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. Company executives alledgedly said that the drugmaker was "a multibillion dollar conglomerate looking for information."
4. During his testimony, Mr. Cohen said that he spoke with Novartis executives about six times.
5. A Novartis spokesperson told STAT, "We have previously addressed all questions regarding our relationship with Essential Consultants, and we consider this matter closed."
6. In August 2018, Novartis hired a chief ethics officer after the payments to Mr. Cohen were revealed. The Swiss drugmaker hired Klaus Moosmayer a former employee of Siemens, where he spent more than 10 years helping the engineering firm recover from bribery scandals.
Read the full report here.