Narco-a-Lago

[mellincf]

Since he became President of the United States, numerous investigations and articles have probed Trump’s business dealings and his alleged links to criminals and other shadowy characters. It is understood that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation under the Department of Justice will also examine his real estate business. This is important because it seems likely that, following his various bankruptcies, at least a part of Trump’s business empire has been built on untraceable funds, some apparently linked to Russian criminal networks.

Since the Russian government’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, a lot has been made of Trump’s heavy reliance on funds from Russia for his licensing deals. Trump relying on funds from Russia is not in itself a problem – some of these funds are no doubt from legitimate sources. What is deeply problematic, however, is the fact that some of this money appears to have come from criminal networks.

Donald Trump has incessantly promoted himself as a successful and viable businessman, and this was critical to his success in the 2016 presidential election. But this report presents evidence that this façade was built, at least in part, on ventures used to launder cash generated by criminal activities. Trump’s unscrupulous business dealings and blindness to potential illegality raise serious questions about his suitability to govern the most powerful country in the world.

Narco-a-lago: Money-Laundering at the Trump Ocean Club, Panama | Global Witness (https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/corruption-and-money-laundering/narco-a-lago-panama/#chapter-0/section-1)

[mellincf]

New York’s Trump SoHo is a well-documented case of Donald Trump dealing with dubious or even criminal characters and benefiting from anonymously sourced funds.

The project involved Trump entering into a licensing deal with real estate companies Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization to develop a 46-story tower in New York City’s prestigious SoHo neighborhood.
Reports suggest that Bayrock had several links to organized crime. The company was said to have an association with Viktor Khrapunov, former energy minister of Kazakhstan and ex-mayor of the capital, Almaty. The city of Almaty filed a federal lawsuit against Khrapunov in 2014, accusing him of looting hundreds of millions of dollars of public assets.

Bayrock’s managing director was Felix Sater. Sater is a Russian-born U.S. citizen who was convicted of fraud and has been accused of having links with the Mafia, something that he has denied. Sater has described himself as a senior advisor to Donald Trump. He claimed that he had an office down the hall from the Trump family and carried a Trump Organization business card.

[mellincf]

Trump International Hotel and Tower Baku, Azerbaijan. As reported by the New Yorker, in 2012 the Trump Organization signed a licensing deal to develop the Trump International Hotel and Tower Baku, Azerbaijan.
Ivanka Trump took particular interest in the interior design of the project and made a video promoting it.
Expert opinion cited in the article suggested that the Trump Organization should have been aware that a multi-million dollar development funded by the inexperienced son of an Azerbaijani government minister was likely to be corrupt. The Mammadovs were politically exposed persons (PEPs) as defined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Moreover, Azerbaijan has been described by the U.S. State Department as being surrounded with “… corruption and predatory behavior by politically-connected elites.”

[Taltarzac725]

Since he became President of the United States, numerous investigations and articles have probed Trump’s business dealings and his alleged links to criminals and other shadowy characters. It is understood that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation under the Department of Justice will also examine his real estate business. This is important because it seems likely that, following his various bankruptcies, at least a part of Trump’s business empire has been built on untraceable funds, some apparently linked to Russian criminal networks.

Since the Russian government’s alleged interference in the 2016 election, a lot has been made of Trump’s heavy reliance on funds from Russia for his licensing deals. Trump relying on funds from Russia is not in itself a problem – some of these funds are no doubt from legitimate sources. What is deeply problematic, however, is the fact that some of this money appears to have come from criminal networks.

Donald Trump has incessantly promoted himself as a successful and viable businessman, and this was critical to his success in the 2016 presidential election. But this report presents evidence that this façade was built, at least in part, on ventures used to launder cash generated by criminal activities. Trump’s unscrupulous business dealings and blindness to potential illegality raise serious questions about his suitability to govern the most powerful country in the world.

Narco-a-lago: Money-Laundering at the Trump Ocean Club, Panama | Global Witness (https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/corruption-and-money-laundering/narco-a-lago-panama/#chapter-0/section-1)

Good link. Not for Donald John TRUMP though.