As Donald Trump fought his way to the White House in 2016, key allies tried to smooth his path by paying off two women who had been thinking of going public with allegations of extramarital encounters with the Republican.
The payoffs, and the way that Trump's company accounted for one of them, are believed to be at the centre of a grand jury investigation that led to a criminal indictment and could result in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former US president.
Here's a look at key figures in the case:
