Columbus Nova

Columbus Nova
Private
Industry Investment services
Founded 2000
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States
Key people
  • Andrew Intrater, (CEO)
  • Jason Epstein, (Senior Managing Partner)
Products Financial services
AUM $200-$300 million
Owner Andrew Intrater
Subsidiaries Fiverr, Rabb.it, Chat Republic Games, Rhapsody[1]
Website columbusnova.com

Columbus Nova is an investment company founded in 2000 and centered in New York City. As of 2015, its key people are CEO Andrew Intrater. Former Senior Managing Partner Jason Epstein is no longer with the company. Exactly when Epstein departed the company is unclear.[2] The company is a multi-strategy investment firm with 200-300 million USD of assets in its own funds and affiliated portfolio companies, including, Fiverr, and Rhapsody.[3]

On September 17, 2013, online music service Rhapsody International announced that it would accept a "significant" investment of an undisclosed amount from Columbus Nova Technology Partners. At the same time, it was announced that Rhapsody president Jon Irwin would step down and the company would lay off some of its workers.[4]

Former Senior Managing Partner Jason Epstein also owns Daybreak Game Company, Harmonix, the makers of Guitar Hero, whom he bought from Viacom in December 2010.[5][6]

In 2017, Mother Jones reported that Andrew Intrater donated $250,000 to Trump's inauguration fund and $35,000 to a joint fundraising committee for Trump’s reelection and the Republican National Committee.[7]

Connection to Viktor Vekselberg and Payments to Michael Cohen

According to the Washington Post, "Columbus Nova has been described in federal regulatory filings as an affiliate of the Renova Group, founded by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg". The sanctioned Russian company Renova Group, itself controlled by Vekselberg, also subject to U.S. sanctions, has previously listed Columbus Nova as a controlled investment fund under the Renova Group's umbrella.[8] Per regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), companies that are at least 50% owned by sanctioned individuals or companies are themselves subject to U.S. sanctions.[9]

On May 8, 2018, the New York Times reported that during 2017 Columbus Nova made payments of at least $500,000 to a bank account maintained by Michael Cohen, then acting as President Donald Trump's personal attorney.[10] However, the sanctions against Renova Group were not put in place until April 6, 2018,[11] so even if Columbus Nova were subject to sanctions due to its ownership structure, payments from Vekselberg to Donald Trump (via Cohen) would not have been expressly prohibited by OFAC at the time the payments were made.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "CNTP Portfolio". cntp.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Olivetti, Justin (24 April 2018). "DAYBREAK SAYS IT HAS 'NO AFFILIATION' WITH COLUMBUS NOVA, THE COMPANY SAID TO HAVE BOUGHT IT IN 2015 (AND WHOSE ASSETS ARE NOW BEING FROZEN)". Massively Overpowered. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "Columbus Nova". www.columbusnova.com.
  4. ↑ Crook, Jordan (17 September 2013). "Faced With Fierce Competition, Rhapsody Takes "Significant" Investment From Columbus Nova". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Harmonix Rebounds With Dance Central, Bets on Music Downloads". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg News. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Marie, Meagan (23 December 2010). "Viacom Sells Harmonix To Columbus Nova". gameinformer.com. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "A Putin-friendly oligarch's top US executive gave a lot of money to Donald Trump". Mother Jones.
  8. ↑ "Renova group structure". 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  9. ↑ "OFAC FAQs: General Questions". www.treasury.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  10. ↑ "Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen". The New York Times. 2018-05-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  11. ↑ "Treasury Designates Russian Oligarchs, Officials, and Entities in Response to Worldwide Malign Activity | U.S. Department of the Treasury". home.treasury.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  12. ↑ "OFAC FAQs: Sanctions Lists and Files". www.treasury.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  • "Columbus Nova at Renova". Archived from the original on November 14, 2017.


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