Thread: The Trumps' Panama City tower has some incredibly shady buyers

The Trumps' Panama City tower has some incredibly shady buyers
8:44 a.m. ET

Juan Jose RODRIGUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump Organization and family failed to make inquiries into who was purchasing condos in the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama City, instead accepting money from a range of shady clients including members of the Russian mafia and drug cartel money launderers, an NBC News/Reutersinvestigation found.

"I had some customers with questionable backgrounds," said Brazilian real estate salesman Alexandre Ventura Nogueira, who sold hundreds of units in the building beginning in 2006 but now lives as a fugitive due to an unrelated money-laundering scheme. "Nobody ever asked me," Ventura added. "Banks never asked. Developer didn't ask and [the] Trump Organization didn't ask. Nobody ask, 'Who are the customers, where did the money come from?' No, nobody ask."

Former Panamanian financial crimes prosecutor Mauricio Ceballos put it more bluntly, calling the Trump Ocean Club "a vehicle for money laundering."

Although the Trump Organization was not the developer for the building, it did license its brand and it operates the hotel and receives a cut of the condo sales. President Trump continues to make money from the project, earning $13.9 million over the last three years. In the words of Ventura, the Ocean Club was Ivanka Trump's personal "baby." NBC News writes that while there is "no indication that the Trump Organization or members of the Trump family engaged in any illegal activity, or knew of the criminal backgrounds of some of the project's associates," a willingness to turn a blind eye could nevertheless get the Trumps in trouble with U.S. law.

Panama constitutional law professor Miguel Antonio Bernal said there are hundreds of buildings in Panama City like the Trump Ocean Club that are used for money laundering. "There are more than 500 buildings like this," he explained. "But this — the difference of this — is that this has the name of the actual president of the United States." Read the full investigation here. Jeva Lange

http://theweek.com/speedreads/738145...y-shady-buyers

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In a shocking revelation, the Trump Organization may have willfully done nothing while a Trump-affiliated property became a front for organized crime. According to Reuters, after opening in 2011, the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower, a high-rise development in Panama City, Panama, quickly became a popular money laundering source for Colombian cartel members and Russian human traffickers.

Alexandre Henrique Ventura Nogueira, a former broker for the building who is currently on the lam in Europe, claims that President Trump, Ivanka, Don Jr., and Eric were all involved in the marketing and management of the building, even though the Trump Organization did not own the property. Ventura Nogueira also claims to have had nearly a dozen meetings with Ivanka concerning sales of condo units (that were allegedly being bought by criminals) at the development. According to Ventura Nogueira, he had an agreement with Ivanka that if he could sell 100 units, she would name him the lead sales rep for the project. He reportedly double- and triple-sold units to meet his goals.

This lax-yet-sales-driven approach quickly led to customers with ties to organized crime scooping up apartments in the building. “Nobody ever asked me. Banks never asked. Developer didn’t ask and (the) Trump Organization didn’t ask,” Ventura Nogueira said. “Nobody ask, ‘Who are the customers, where did the money come from?’ No, nobody ask.”

In a statement, the Trump Organization denied any culpability in the goings-on at the Panama City building:

“The Trump Organization was not the owner, developer or seller of the Trump Ocean Club Panama project. Because of its limited role, the company was not responsible for the financing of the project and had no involvement in the sale of units or the retention of any real estate brokers.”

However, according to legal experts, given Panama’s standing in the financial world as “highly corrupt,” most businesses perform due diligence on projects and potential business partners before conducting business in the country in order to avoid violating U.S. laws about ignoring wrongdoing.

Ivanka Trump, who was nearly prosecuted for fraud involving sales at a Trump property in 2012 before district attorney Cy Vance received a donation to his re-election campaign from Donald Trump’s longtime attorney, declined to comment to Reuters.

http://uproxx.com/news/trump-panama-organized-crime/