TRUMP AND HIS RUSSIAN DEPENDENCE: WHERE ECONOMIC CORRUTION MEETS CORRUPTING DEMOCRACY
Donald Trump is doing his best to align the United States of America with the kleptocracy dictatorship of Russia. In the last week alone he has condemned Ukrainian civilians and soldiers to die needlessly, mouthed all the talking points of Russia, cancelled the surveillance of Russian cyber criminal networks and election interference campaigns among other paths to harm America. That is a small portion of his betrayal of our democracy, economy, security and aspirational values.
The question is why is Trump a Chump (or worse) for Russia?
It turns out that there is a decades long history of the Soviet Union and then Russia running Trump as if he were a junior clerk for Moscow. Let me be specific.(NOTE: in what follows I have chosen to not use the names of oligarchs involved in Trump enterprises as purchasers, launderers and investors. Their names are reported, but since I am only using secondary, that is press, accounts I chose not to include names, although I can provide full sources if requested.)
- In 1987 the Soviet Union flew Donald and Ivana Trump to Moscow for a set of meetings. The Trumps were wined and dined and there were, according to Trump reports, discussions of building a Trump hotel across from the Kremlin. The Soviets knew that Donald had only two real projects, the renovation of the Commodore Hotel at Grand Central Station and Trump Tower. There was casino development in New Jersey and Trump Place in Manhattan, although the casino business was sketchy piling up debt, and Trump Place was in various disputes far into the 1990s so nothing was visible let alone successful.
- The Soviets/Russians had a pretty good understanding that Donald did not have the capital or reputation to pull off a big project. In fact, a number of Russian oligarchs and wannabes were actively laundering millions and millions of dollars through Trump projects in New York and Florida.
- In 1984 a 38 year old former Russian military pilot with no visible means of support purchased 5 apartments in Trump Tower for $6 million. In 1987 this upstanding resident of Trump Tower pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive gasoline-bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. The government seized his five condos at Trump Tower, saying that he had purchased them to “launder money, to shelter and hide ”
- In about 1992 a major figure in alleged Russian criminal activities bought a car dealership that was used, according to The New York Times, “as a front to launder criminal proceeds.” His residence: Trump Tower.
- According to journalist Craig Unger “Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money.
- Speaking at a conference in 2008 Donald Trump Jr. said “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets…We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
- The $370 million Trump SoHo was built and financed by two Soviet emigres who were never accused of financial wrongdoing, although one was involved in an earlier violent incident. They offered Trump18% of profits in exchange for his name on the project. Trump was endlessly collecting the fruits of the chaos of the Russian economy.
- The investment companies that financed the Trump SoHo also developed a practice of financing projects in Russia, Ukraine and Poland with the Trump name in exchange for Trump getting 20% to 25% of profits. These projects allowed huge amounts of money to be laundered. Trump testified that they “knew the investors,” and “brought the people up from Moscow to meet with me.” This is important in light of Trump’s later claims that he knew nothing about oligarchs in Russia.
- At the Trump SoHo a former Kazakh minister was sued accused of “systematically loot hundreds of millions of dollars of public assets” and then purchasing three condos in Trump SoHo to launder his “ill-gotten funds.”
- In 2013 on the 63rd floor of Trump Tower federal authorities raided what they claimed to be the center of a money laundering operation that moved $100 million from Russia to the US. The condo was just below a condo owned by Trump.
- Also in 2013 on the 51st floor 29 people were arrested for running a major, illegal sports betting operation.
- In 2015, the Trump Taj Mahal was fined$10 million—the highest penalty ever levied by the feds against a casino—and admitted to having “willfully violated” anti-money-laundering regulations for years.
- Starting in 1998 the Trump World Tower sold at least 65 units to wealthy Russian oligarchs.
- More than 160 properties in the Trump branded Sea Isles development in Florida were purchased by Russians.
- When asked about his connections to Russian investors or customers, according to Craig Unger, Trump replied “I have no dealings with Russia.” He later said at a press conference “I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we’ve stayed away. And I have no loans with Russia. I have no loans with Russia at all.” When NBC’s Lester Holt asked, Trump seemed hard-pressed to think of a single connection he had with Russia. “I have had dealings over the years where I sold a house to a very wealthy Russian many years ago,” he said. “I had the Miss Universe pageant—which I owned for quite a while—I had it in Moscow a long time ago. But other than that, I have nothing to do with Russia.”
Russian money, especially laundered money was key to sustaining the Trump businesses for 40 years. The shady deals also attracted wealthy Russians from all parts of the chaotic economy. From his earliest ventures Trump has relied on Russian money and elites. If they tightened the screws then the Trump organization would have failed. It is no wonder that Trump wants to remain close to the Russian autocrats – it is good business and a good way to subvert democracy and build the autocracy Trump wants.
