When
the investigation into the Trump campaign brings up charges of money laundering
and shady property deals, it may seem like a sideline. But it
shouldn’t. No one expects Donald Trump to secretly have a shrine to Lenin in the basement of Trump Tower.
Michael Flynn didn’t offer to kidnap a cleric because the man offended his religious views.
Paul Manafort wasn’t sending Putin plans to “greatly benefit his government” because he really, really wants to see democracy crushed—though given Manafort’s track record, he might.
The
truth is simple: They’re in it for the money. So when you see a story like this, it’s not a side show. It’s the
show.
A new report from watchdog group Global Witness says that a Colombian money launderer currently in U.S. custody participated in the advance sale of units in a Panama development bearing the president’s name: The Trump Ocean Club.
Trump has made $13.9 million from the Ocean Club in the last three years alone, according to NBC’s own reporting on the matter.
This
time it was a front for murderous, drug-runners in Colombia feeding
dollars to Trump. But that’s the point: Trump’s connection to Russia isn’t
philosophical. It’s financial. He’ll take money from anyone.
And he’s not alone.
The
federal indictment of Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign
chairman, accuses him of laundering millions in foreign payments to pursue a
“lavish lifestyle” in the U.S., especially in the Hamptons, where he has a
house.
The
reason that both Trump and Manafort have money flowing into their coffers is
simple. After rules were changed making other means of money laundering more
difficult, there was still one huge loophole that was left wide open.
It is
well known that real estate can be an effective way to launder money because
many transactions involve opaque entities and clean large sums of money in a
single transaction.
The pipeline that people in Trump’s circle have connected to oligarchs and autocrats flows with billions of dollars coming into the United States on a raft of real estate deals.
The money to build these projects flowed almost entirely
from Russian sources. In other words, after his business crashed, Trump was
floated and made to appear to operate a successful business enterprise through
the infusion of hundreds in millions of cash from dark Russian sources.
David
Murcia Guzmán is the Colombian fraudster who just completed a nine-year
sentence in the US for money laundering that defrauded more than 200,000 people
of $2 billion, according to the report.
A Brazilian real estate salesman named Alexandre Ventura Noriega confirmed to Global Witness and NBC that Guzman participated in the pre-sale of Ocean Club units, purchasing as many as 10 of them in the period when the developers were trying to raise money to complete the project.
A Brazilian real estate salesman named Alexandre Ventura Noriega confirmed to Global Witness and NBC that Guzman participated in the pre-sale of Ocean Club units, purchasing as many as 10 of them in the period when the developers were trying to raise money to complete the project.
This should not be a surprise to anyone. Because
the truth is that’s what
his business is about. Trump’s real estate “fortune” isn’t about
creating landmarks, running hotels, or building homes. It’s about laundering
money on an industrial scale.
Trump may not have deliberately set out to
facilitate criminal activity in his business dealings.
But, as this Global Witness investigation shows, licensing his brand to the luxurious Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama aligned Trump’s financial interests with those of crooks looking to launder ill-gotten gains.
Trump seems to have done little to nothing to prevent this. What is clear is that proceeds from Colombian cartels’ narcotics trafficking were laundered through the Trump Ocean Club and that Donald Trump was one of the beneficiaries.
But, as this Global Witness investigation shows, licensing his brand to the luxurious Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama aligned Trump’s financial interests with those of crooks looking to launder ill-gotten gains.
Trump seems to have done little to nothing to prevent this. What is clear is that proceeds from Colombian cartels’ narcotics trafficking were laundered through the Trump Ocean Club and that Donald Trump was one of the beneficiaries.
That
business of “may not deliberately” is both Trump’s standard method of running
his business, and what he hopes will be his Get Out of Jail Free card when
Robert Mueller inevitably comes calling. Trump doesn’t so much actively make
deals that are clearly money laundering … he makes it possible for money
laundering to occur, so long as a substantial cut flows into his pockets.
He has
great hopes that when Mueller drops off a stack of indictments detailing the
hundreds of millions of money laundering that Trump has conducted both inside
and outside the US, Trump can hide behind his passivity, and behind the
blanket forgiveness uniquely provided under real estate laws.
The
laws regulating US real estate deals are scant, experts say. Provisions against
terrorism financing in the Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the
September 11 2001 attacks, obliged mortgage lenders to conduct “know your
customer” research.
But money launderers pay in cash. Sales such as those of the Trump Soho apartments have passed through this loophole, which was partially closed only this year.
But money launderers pay in cash. Sales such as those of the Trump Soho apartments have passed through this loophole, which was partially closed only this year.
That
Trump’s campaign team agreed to look into the Magnitsky Act isn’t
something they’re doing for Russia. It’s something that they’re doing for
themselves. They need to keep that pipeline open.
To make sure that the oligarchs banned from US transactions under sanctions are free to insert their dollars … right into Trump’s bank account.
To make sure that the oligarchs banned from US transactions under sanctions are free to insert their dollars … right into Trump’s bank account.
Sure,
the Russians helped Donald Trump get elected. Sure, Trump’s campaign contacted
Russia over and over to coordinate on ways to attack Hillary Clinton and the
best use of Russian trolls and ad dollars. Sure, Russia made it clear that the
payoff for their help would come in the form of reduced sanctions.
That’s the sideshow. The real show? It’s billions of dollars
moving from oligarchs in Russia, to banks in Cyprus, to real estate in New
York. Putin wants that flow open. Trump wants his cut. The White House is a
tool to make that happen.
Meanwhile, Paul Manafort paid $5 million
for repairs and upgrades that were ticketed at about $1 million. That includes
a $100,000 audio system, $650,000 worth of landscaping, and on and on with
much of the money going to a single mysterious contractor whose actual work
seems to be … minimal.
What
it doesn’t explain—or highlight—are the stratospheric payments he made to home
improvement companies when his renovation work was estimated at far less.
Because
even now, with everyone looking, the pipeline has to keep flowing, flowing,
flowing.