A Primer on Donald Trump’s Real Estate Deals
As President Trump careens from one controversy to the next, reporters continue to explore the murky world of Trump’s real estate dealings, generating stories that read like cheap crime novels.
On a case by case basis, each project offers bizarre characters, double-dealings and quasi-criminal enterprises. Taken together, as a body of work, it is an amazing litany of scam, fraud and corruption, blowing apart his followers’ image of Trump as a hard-chargin’ businessman who, you know, might have cut a few corners.
In recent years, as traditional lenders turned their back on him, Trump was eagerly looking for opportunities to leverage his brand, striking an astonishing number of deals that ended in lawsuits, bitter investors and accusations of criminal activities. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller is, in fact, diving into Trump’s business deals, he is going to be busy for a long time.
Here is a quick roundup of Trump’s noteworthy recent deals (and links to coverage).
Trump Soho
This was supposed to be Donald, Jr. and Ivanka’s big developer coming out party. But instead the downtown New York project tanked when the market crashed and buyers balked at the “hotel-condo” concept. And then Donnie and Ivanka were caught lying to investors about sales. They said 60 percent had…
