The family business · 2016 campaign · № 10
Trump signs letter of intent for a Trump Tower in Moscow while running for president
- Date
- , Documented in the Mueller report (2019); first reported in 2017
- Subject
- Russia
- Benefit
- Real estate and licensing
- Government
- Russia
- Beneficiary
- Trump Organization (Trump Acquisition, LLC)
- Amount
- $4 million up-front fee plus percentages of sales and revenue (proposed terms; project not built)
- Topic
- Ethics & conflicts
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What happened
Trump signed a letter of intent dated October 28, 2015 for a Trump-branded tower in Moscow with I.C. Expert Investment Company, a Russian developer headed by Andrey Rozov. According to the Mueller report, the terms gave the Trump Organization a $4 million up-front fee before groundbreaking, 1% to 5% of condominium sales, 3% of rental and other revenue, and hotel management fees. Felix Sater, who brokered the deal, told Michael Cohen on October 12, 2015 that Andrey Kostin, the head of VTB Bank, would finance it, according to the Senate intelligence committee; the U.S. Treasury had sanctioned VTB as a state-owned bank in July 2014, and BuzzFeed News reported that VTB officials denied taking part in any negotiations. BuzzFeed News reported on November 29, 2018, citing four people including Sater, that the company planned to give President Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in the tower, and said it was not clear whether Trump knew of that plan. The tower was not built. On January 11, 2017 Trump wrote on Twitter: "I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!"
Sources
- Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
- Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities
- The Trump Organization Planned To Give Vladimir Putin The $50 Million Penthouse In Trump Tower Moscow
- Announcement of Additional Treasury Sanctions on Russian Financial Institutions and on a Defense Technology Entity
- Tweet by @realDonaldTrump, 2017-01-11
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