Former Geelong resident Dylan Howard caught up in one of world’s biggest political controversies involving Donald Trump

IT’S one of the world’s biggest scandals — a porn star, the US President and his former lawyer pleading guilty to a raft of charges including campaign finance violations and dodgy media dealings. And at the centre of it all is a former Western Heights College student and Geelong lad

Media bigwig and former Geelong resident Dylan Howard

IT’S one of the world’s biggest scandals — a porn star, the US President and his former lawyer pleading guilty to a raft of charges including campaign finance violations and dodgy media dealings.

And at the centre of it all is a former Western Heights College student and Geelong lad.

So how did controversial media bigwig Dylan Howard end up entangled in the sordid political tale that’s captivated the world?

Howard cut his teeth as a journalist at the Geelong Advertiser, worked with Darryn Lyons, and was infamously dumped by Channel 7 after he was embroiled in a chequebook journalism scandal.

But he bounced back, finding success abroad, heading up American tabloid magazine the National Enquirer.

Howard is no stranger to scandal.

He’s been swept up in the world of wild sitcom star Charlie Sheen, initially fraternising with the drug-addled bad boy before breaking the story in the Enquirer that Sheen had HIV.

Howard was also named as one of Harvey Weinstein’s “army of spies”, with the The New Yorker claiming Howard tried to collect dirt on starlet Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of rape.

One person who knew Howard back in his Geelong days described him as a “dangerous mix of potential brilliance and cavalier recklessness”.

And that recklessness may now have landed Howard in one of the most salacious political sagas of all time.

US prosecutors claim Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen and American Media Inc (AMI) — which publishes the Enquirer and employs Howard — collaborated to stop the stories of women alleging historical affairs with the President from going public.

This week Mr Trump’s (now former) lawyer Cohen pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance violations.

Howard and AMI chief David Pecker have now, according to US reports, been granted immunity by prosecutors to tell what they know about the grubby deals.

The immunity deal was that the two men “would describe Trump’s involvement in Cohen’s payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign”, according to Vanity Fair.

The Wall Street Journal said Mr Pecker shared details with prosecutors about payments Cohen says Mr Trump directed to buy the silence of two women alleging affairs with him.

Mr Trump’s account has shifted. He said recently he knew about payments “later on.”

A world away from his hometown, Howard was allegedly heavily involved in the “catch and kill” scheme, which saw media juggernaut AMI obtain the rights to Ms McDougal’s story and then deliberately not publish it.

US President Donald Trump.

It’s also alleged AMI tipped Cohen off to Stormy Daniels’ claims.

Both women alleged past affairs with Mr Trump while he was married — claims that could have affected Mr Trump’s standing with conservative voters in the lead-up to the election.

The National Enquirer kept a safe for documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed amid its cozy relationship with Donald Trump before the 2016 presidential election, Associated Press reported yesterday.

In a statement this week, the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York detailed the charges against Mr Cohen, and under the subhead “Campaign Finance Violations” detailed how AMI allegedly “agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any … negative stories.”

The statement alleges that AMI “advised Cohen of negative stories during the course of the campaign, and Cohen, with the assistance of” AMI “was able to arrange for the purchase of two stories so as to suppress them and prevent them from influencing the election”.

Prosecutors claim Cohen “caused $280,000 in payments to be made to silence two women who otherwise planned to speak publicly about their alleged past affairs with a presidential candidate, thereby intending to influence the 2016 presidential election”.

Adult film actress/director Stormy Daniels.

The guilty pleas by Cohen and the alleged immunity deal for Howard and Mr Pecker come after AMI executives were reportedly subpoenaed earlier this year as part of the investigation.

But as the scandal has been unfolding a seemingly relaxed Howard — who, like AMI, did not respond to attempts to obtain comment — appears to be enjoying his lavish lifestyle abroad and keeping occupied with work.

Howard has been busy plugging his new project, a podcast investigating the mysterious death of Hollywood starlet Natalie Wood.

His social media posts include bottles of Dom Perignon champagne being enjoyed poolside, and Howard indulging his passion for home decor in an abode in East Hampton — a wealthy area known as a playground for the Big Apple’s rich and famous.

In one post Howard shows off a wall he has decorated with memorabilia including a framed photo of Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein — the famed journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal that ultimately cost Richard Nixon the presidency.

If the immunity deal holds up Howard may escape his dealings with the current president’s lawyer unscathed.

But it’s hard to imagine Woodward and Bernstein being on-board with AMI’s “catch and kill” techniques.

HOW THE US ATTORNEY’S OFFICE ALLEGES THE ‘CATCH AND KILL’ SCHEME UNFOLDED

In June 2016, prior to the election, McDougal “began attempting to sell the story of her alleged affair.

McDougal’s attorney contacted the National Enquirer’s Howard, and offered to sell her story to the publication. AMI chief David Pecker and Howard informed Cohen of the story.

At “Cohen’s urging and subject to Cohens’s promise” that AMI would be reimbursed, Howard began negotiating for the purchase of the story.

AMI entered an agreement with McDougal to acquire “limited life rights” to the story in exchange for $150,000 and a commitment to feature her on two magazine covers and publish articles authored by her.

The agreement’s principal purpose, as understood by those involved, was to suppress McDougal’s story “to prevent it from influencing the election”.

In October 2016, an agent for Daniels informed Howard that she was willing to make public statements and “confirm on the record her alleged past affair” with Trump.

Pecker and Howard contacted Cohen and put him in touch with Daniels’ lawyer, who also was representing McDougal.

Cohen negotiated a $130,000 agreement with the attorney to “himself purchase” Daniels’ silence, and received a signed confidential settlement agreement from her lawyer.

In late October, with no deal finalised, the attorney told Howard Daniels was close to completing a deal with another outlet to publicise her story.

Howard then texted Cohen, “[w]e have to co-ordinate something on the matter (the lawyer) is calling you about or it could look awfully bad for everyone”.

Pecker and Howard then “called Cohen through an encrypted telephone” app.

Cohen agreed to make the payment, and called the lawyer to finalise the deal.

According to US media reports earlier this year, one of Trump’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, confirmed Trump paid back the $130k paid to silence Daniels.

Originally published as Former Geelong resident Dylan Howard caught up in one of world’s biggest political controversies involving Donald Trump