The Trumps: Made in China, Their Chinese Outsourcing Addiction, 41 Trademarks, Boundless Hypocrisy, Blatant Disregard For The Emoluments Clause, & Don's Fantasy To Be Like Xi Jinping When He Grows Up!
In December 2018, Sam Nunberg met with Steve Bannon at the Loews Regency hotel in Manhattan. Nunberg, a former Donald Trump campaign aide, expected to discuss work he was doing for a PAC that Bannon ran. But Bannon, whom Trump had fired from a White House job the year before, had other plans.
Nunberg says that moments after the meeting began, Bannon pulled out what he said was a printed lawsuit and warned that the fugitive Chinese mogul Guo Wengui was poised to sue Nunberg.
Bannon—who was working for Guo at the time—said he could have the lawsuit shelved. But Bannon wanted something in return: Nunberg would have to appear in a video with Guo and claim that Nunberg had learned that three other men had conspired to fabricate a rape allegation against Guo made by a former personal assistant—an allegation that had resulted in a criminal case in China and a lawsuit in New York, both begun in 2017.
Further, Bannon wanted Nunberg to say that the same three supposed accomplices—a Chinese entrepreneur named Bruno Wu, casino mogul Steve Wynn, and GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy—were involved in the issuing of a “red notice” by Interpol seeking the arrest of Guo for alleged financial crimes in China, Nunberg recalled.
“You have to cooperate, and this can be dropped,” Bannon said, according to a memo Nunberg wrote shortly after the incident. “Otherwise Kwok is going to bankrupt you and ruin your life.” (Ho Wan Kwok is one of several aliases used by Guo.) Nunberg, who recounted this exchange in a series of recent interviews with Mother Jones, wrote in his memo that the quotes he used are “almost verbatim.”
Nunberg, who said the story Bannon proposed was totally false, refused his demands. Days later, Guo sued Nunberg for defamation and other claims.
The Latest Pay-Offs Tallies While President 13.6 million
September 18, 2024 Trump likely benefited from $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments during his presidency
Throughout Donald Trump’s time in the White House, he likely benefited from $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments, according to a new analysis by CREW. These payments represent an unprecedented violation of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause and serve as a reminder of the further violations Trump is poised to bring into office should he return to the White House.
This report builds on the work done by the House Oversight Committee earlier this year, which relied heavily on an incomplete set of documents provided by Trump’s accounting firm. To make up for the gaps in that information, CREW has pieced together additional details, where available, from our extensive tracking of the ways foreign governments used Trump’s businesses to curry favor with him and his administration, while enriching Trump personally. This is the most comprehensive view to date of Trump’s first term foreign emoluments—a staggering picture of corruption that would have been inconceivable to America’s founders.
Estimates from September 18, 2024
An exiled Chinese billionaire has now been found guilty of multiple charges, including fraud and money laundering. Here's a look into how Guo Wengui, who built up a real estate empire in China, went on to run a billion dollar scam in the US.
Pro-Trump Social Media, Gettr, controlled & funded by Guo Wengui
Gettr was promoted by MAGA heavies like Steve Bannon and Jason Miller. It’s now close to shutting down, sources say.
A pro-Trump social media site that was launched with great fanfare less than three years ago has now laid off much of its staff and is close to shutting down, current and former employees say.
Gettr, which was founded in 2021 as a MAGA-aligned alternative to Twitter, has floundered in the wake of the indictment and imprisonment of fugitive Chinese mogul Guo Wengui, who federal prosecutors allege controlled Gettr and financed it with fraudulently obtained funds. Gettr also faces competition from Donald Trump’s Truth Social site, from other right-leaning social media sites, and from X, formerly Twitter, following Elon Musk’s effort to amplify far-right accounts there.
“EVERYBODY at Gettr was let go,” said one former employee, via text message, who asked to remain anonymous. A current employee who also requested anonymity said Gettr has undergone “major layoffs” since January and currently does not have the funds to remain in operation for long. Gettr’s board has not approved a budget since December, leaving the company’s status unclear, these sources said.
Trump's $7.8 million Pay-Offs from 21 different countries
A report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released Thursday accused former President Trump of receiving at least $7.8 million in foreign payments to his properties during his presidency.
Why it matters: It’s the most solid figure to date on the scope and scale of Trump’s private windfall from foreign sources, which Democrats allege is a clear-cut violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
Driving the news: The 156-page report titled “White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump” draws on documents from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars, obtained after years of high-profile court battles.
It lays out foreign payments to four Trump properties, two in New York, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Las Vegas, from at least 20 foreign governments or government-owned entities, including China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kosovo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“President Trump never sought or received Congress's approval to keep these foreign payments, as the Constitution requires,” the report says, also drawing links between the payments and Trump's policy decisions.
By the numbers: By far the largest chunk of the $7.8 million came from China, which spent nearly $5.6 million at Trump Tower in New York and Trump International Hotels in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas. (The D.C. hotel became the Waldorf Astoria in 2022.)
Another $615,000 came from Saudi Arabia, $466,000 from Qatar, $303,000 from Kuwait, $283,000 from India, $249,000 from Malaysia, $155,000 from Afghanistan, $75,000 from the Philippines and $65,000 from the UAE.
Trump likely benefited from $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments during his presidency
Jan 05, 2024 SOURCE: https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-countries-made-payments-donald-trump-during-presidency-1858008
WSJ: Jan. 4, 2024 Trump’s Businesses Got Millions From Foreign Governments While He Was President. Democrats say Trump violated Constitution by accepting at least $7.8 million from China, Saudi Arabia and other countries for leases and hotel stays
WASHINGTON—China and Saudi Arabia topped a list of 21 countries whose governments or state-linked entities pumped millions of dollars into Donald Trump’s properties while he was president, according to a new report and previously undisclosed records that shed light on Trump’s potential business conflicts as he seeks a second term.
Trump’s Businesses Got Millions From Foreign Governments While He Was President
Democrats say Trump violated Constitution by accepting at least $7.8 million from China, Saudi Arabia and other countries for leases and hotel stays
PDF: 156 Page Mazars Report: 7.8 Million from 20 countries
2023
Trump's Chinese Spy Gal Luft
The head of a US think tank has been charged with acting as a Chinese agent and attempting to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil
Gal Luft, 57, was charged with acting as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government, trafficking weapons and lying to federal agents.
The head of a U.S. think tank who has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China was linked to a former top CIA official who worked on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team, it has been revealed.
Gal Luft is co-director of the Maryland-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. He has been charged with allegedly brokering deals involving weapons and Iranian oil with high-ranking U.S government officials without registering as a foreign agent.
Luft was previously believed to be a key figure in House Republicans' probe into the Biden family's alleged corrupt foreign business dealings, although was reported "missing" by GOP figures. Prosecutors have said that Luft was arrested on February 17, but subsequently fled after being released on bail and remains a fugitive.
One of the officials whom Luft is accused of covertly attempting to "recruit and pay, on behalf of principals based in China" was an adviser to the then President-elect Donald Trump, according to a 58-page indictment.
While he is not named in the indictment, the official is believed to be former CIA Director James Woolsey, who was a national security adviser to Trump during the 2016 election, reported the New York Post and The Messenger. Woolsey resigned from Trump's transition team just before the Republican took office at the White House in January 2017. There is no indication that Trump was aware of Luft's alleged offending at the time. Newsweek has contacted Trump's office for comment via email.
Elsewhere in the indictment, prosecutors say that Luft sent an email on September 12, 2016, to a person named only as CC-1, identified by The Washington Post's Aaron Blake as a "now-convicted Chinese oil exec" celebrating that Woolsey had joined Trump's team.
Trump's Failed Impeachment of President Biden
Republicans caught colluding with 2 criminal spies from Russia (Alexander Smirnov) and China (Gal Luft)
Republicans’ investigation into Biden family corruption just keeps falling apart.
As if it wasn’t bad enough already, a new Justice Department memo says ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov confessed that he has ties to Russian intelligence.
Informant arrested with making up Biden claims says he got info from "Russian intelligence," DOJ tells court
Congress should investigate case of Alexander Smirnov, who has been linked with Russian intelligence, leading lawyer argues
How GOP lawmakers got caught doing Moscow’s dirty work.
House Republicans are quietly trying to remove traces of indicted ex–FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in their Biden impeachment quest.
2022
Trump's Chinese Fugitive Spy: Tao Liu
In July 2018, President Donald Trump met at his New Jersey golf club with a Chinese businessman who should have never gotten anywhere near the most powerful man in the world.
Tao Liu had recently rented a luxurious apartment in Trump Tower in New York and boasted of joining the exclusive Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
But Liu was also a fugitive from Chinese justice. Media reports published overseas three years before the meeting had described him as the mastermind of a conspiracy that defrauded thousands of investors. He had ties to Chinese and Latin American organized crime. Perhaps most worrisome, the FBI was monitoring him because of suspicions that he was working with Chinese spies on a covert operation to buy access to U.S. political figures.
Yet there he sat with Trump at a table covered with sandwiches and soft drinks, the tall windows behind them looking onto a green landscape.
PRC narco-launderer sought influence with President Trump
Triads are laundering fentanyl cash for Mexican cartels. DEA believes Beijing tasks the Triad bosses to donate to Republican and Democrat leaders
He had multiple meetings with President Donald Trump.
He also transferred cryptocurrency from Hong Kong while attempting to buy U.S. visas for Chinese criminals at $150,000 per document. From 2008 to 2020, as the U.S. grappled with an influx of narcotics from Mexico, he worked closely with Latin American drug cartels and transnational Chinese mafias, believed to be laundering billions in drug profits annually from cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamines flooding American cities.
An Instagram page belonging to Tao Liu features several photos of him at a September 2018 Trump rally in Wheeler, W.Va.
Liu is one of six Chinese nationals charged in a conspiracy that allegedly netted at least $30 million from 2008 to late last month and involved funneling illicit drug money to Latin American traffickers, the indictment says.
The effort, the indictment says, “required special care and skill” in money laundering.
Liu was also charged with trying to bribe two men, who turned out to be undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents, in order to get fraudulent passports.
Xizhi Li pioneered a new method that enriched Latin American drug lords and China’s elite. A DEA investigation found the Chinese government may have been involved.
The Li case led federal agents in an unexpected direction: an investigation of a possible Chinese covert operation to penetrate American politics. The DEA agents stumbled across Li’s enigmatic associate, an expatriate Chinese businessman named Tao Liu. After moving from Mexico to New York, he launched a high-rolling quest for political influence that included at least two meetings with President Donald Trump.
Both the DEA and FBI pursued Liu, suspecting he had ties to Chinese spy agencies. They wanted to know how and why a wanted Chinese criminal had gained access to the president of the United States.
Although authorities convicted Li and Liu of money laundering and other crimes, the political and diplomatic aspects of the groundbreaking investigations of them are still largely secret. Citing open investigations, the DEA declined to discuss the case or even the general issue of how Chinese organized crime launders profits for the cartels. The Justice Department and FBI declined requests for comment. Lawyers who represented Li rejected requests for interviews with them or their client.
Tao Liu, Leader of Transnational Money-Laundering Network Pleads Guilty
Trump's China Pay-off of 5.4+ million
President Donald Trump, who declared “I don’t make money from China” in Thursday night’s presidential debate, has in fact collected millions of dollars from government-owned entities in China since he took office. Forbes estimates that at least $5.4 million has flowed into the president’s business from a lease agreement involving a state-owned bank in Trump Tower.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China signed a lease for space in 2008, years before the president took office, paying about $1.9 million in annual rent. Trump is well-aware of the deal. “I’ll show you the Industrial Bank of China,” he told three Forbes journalists touring Trump Tower in 2015. “I have the best tenants in the world in this building.”
Trump moved from the skyscraper to the White House in 2017, but he held onto ownership of the retail and office space in the building, through his 100% interest in an entity called Trump Tower Commercial LLC. That put him in an unusual position, given that government-owned entities in China hold at least 70% of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Suddenly, a routine real estate deal became a conduit for a foreign superpower to pay the president of the United States.
China Behind Trump's Truth Social
Arc Capital, the Chinese firm helping former President Donald Trump take his media company public, has been the subject of investigations by federal securities regulators.
The Shanghai-based company has been under investigation for misrepresenting shell companies with no products and few employees as growth companies, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
Arc Capital has repeatedly helped create or finance companies with little or no revenue or customers and listed office locations that are actually P.O. boxes, according to the Post's review of documents tied to the investigations.
Earlier this year, Arc helped create Digital World Acquisition, an investment company that has raised over $1.2 billion to conduct a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group.
TRUMP’S PARTNER ON DWAC SPAC HAD A HISTORY OF INVESTIGATIONS AND WAS CREATED TO FACILITATE U.S. INVESTMENT IN CHINESE COMPANIES
Trump Partnered With A Chinese Firm With A History Of Investigations To Take His Media Company Public
ARC Capital Helped Create Digital World Acquisition, A Special Purpose Acquisition Company, To Conduct A Merger With Trump Media And Technology Group.
According to the Washington Post, “This year, Arc helped create Digital World Acquisition, an investment vehicle that has raised over $1.2 billion to conduct a merger with Trump Media and Technology Group. Digital World is what’s known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a type of shell business that raises money from investors to acquire a private start-up with strong growth prospects. The deal, which still must be approved by shareholders and regulators, has the potential to enrich the former president and turn his nascent social media start-up into a public company overnight.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
Wash. Post: ARC Capital, An Investment Advisory Firm Based In Shanghai “Repeatedly Helped Create Or Finance Companies With Little Or No Revenue, No Customers And Office Locations That Point To P.O. Boxes.”
According to the Washington Post, “Arc Capital, an investment advisory firm based in Shanghai, has repeatedly helped create or finance companies with little or no revenue, no customers and office locations that point to P.O. boxes, according to a Washington Post review of regulatory and court filings. One claimed to be developing autonomous drone software despite having no employees; another said it operated a publicly traded in-home bakery ‘specializing in freshly-made cakes and cupcakes’ before saying it pivoted into touch-screen technologies for a ‘diversified blue-chip client base,’ regulatory filings show.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
ARC Was Accused By The SEC Of Deceiving Investors
The SEC Accused ARC Of Deceiving Investors About Its Operations, Locations, And Identities Of The People Behind Them.
According to the Washington Post, “The United States allows shell companies to be listed on public markets but requires operators to truthfully represent them as businesses with no active operations, securities lawyers said. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Arc of deceiving investors about the scope of its operations, the locations of the businesses and the identities of the people behind them, documents show.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
2017: SEC Stopped ARC Backed Companies From Publicly Selling Shared Because Of “Material Misstatements And Omissions.” According to the Washington Post, “In 2017, the SEC stopped three Arc-backed companies from publicly selling shares, citing ‘material misstatements and omissions’ in their registration documents, agency records show. The SEC suspended trading in a fourth Arc-financed business as it investigated whether Arc engaged in fraud, the documents show. No charges have been brought against Arc in these cases, and the current status of the investigations is unclear.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
The SEC Suspended Trading In A Fourth ARC Company Pending Investigation. According to the Washington Post, “In 2017, the SEC stopped three Arc-backed companies from publicly selling shares, citing ‘material misstatements and omissions’ in their registration documents, agency records show. The SEC suspended trading in a fourth Arc-financed business as it investigated whether Arc engaged in fraud, the documents show. No charges have been brought against Arc in these cases, and the current status of the investigations is unclear.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
ARC Capital’s Purpose Was To Help Chinese Companies List Their Shares On U.S. Exchanges
ARC Capital Was Founded To Help Chinese Companies List Their Shares On U.S. Stock Exchanges.
According to the Washington Post, “Arc Capital was founded in 2015 by Mexican entrepreneur Abraham Cinta and a few of his colleagues, who decided to leave their jobs at an investment firm to strike out on their own, according to interviews with three former Arc employees and biographical information on Arc’s website. Cinta, a slight man with a boyish grin and an often disheveled appearance, saw an opportunity to help Chinese companies list their shares on U.S. stock exchanges, according to the former employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information about their former employer.” [Washington Post, 12/23/21]
2024 "Truth" Social Media Fraud
Arc Capital has been investigated for misrepresenting the expanse of the shell companies they represent.
Shanghai-based ARC Group played key role in blank-check firm
Boutique advisory firm started by Mexican banker in 2015
Donald Trump, who spent his term boasting about getting tough with China, has partnered with a dubious Shanghai firm for his equally dubious media company.
BF Borgers agrees to $12m civil penalty and owner Benjamin Borgers agrees to pay $2m
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the former CEO of the blank-check company that merged with Trump Media.
The SEC accused that ex-CEO, Patrick Orlando, of lying about his firm’s plans to combine with Donald Trump’s social media startup.
Trump Media and Digital World completed their lengthy public merger in March, allowing the company behind the Truth Social platform to trade on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker DJT.
A New York federal jury convicted an investor of insider trading in a company’s stock ahead of the firm’s announcement that it would merge with Trump Media.
The investor, Bruce Garelick, had been on the board of directors of the company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., at the time it was negotiating plans to merge with Trump Media, the owner of the Truth Social app.
Trump Media’s majority shareholder is former President Donald Trump, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
2020
2020 Trump's Top Secret Chinese Bank Account Discovered
As he raises questions about his opponent’s standing with China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities there, including a previously unknown bank account.
Funny how he never mentions this while claiming Joe Biden would be beholden to China as president.
Trump Has a Bank Account in China, Paid More in Taxes to Beijing Than U.S
President Trump maintains a bank account in China, even as his allies claim his Democratic opponent poses a security threat because of his son’s purported ties to China, The New York Times reports. Citing tax records, the Times reports China is one of three foreign countries where the president has bank accounts, none of which are listed on his public financial disclosures because they are under corporate names. The other two are the United Kingdom and Ireland. The account in China, operated by Trump International Hotels Management LLC, paid $188,561 in taxes in the country from 2013 to 2015, according to the Times. Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten confirmed the bank account to the Times, saying it had been opened “with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes” as part of business projects in the country. The company had set up an office in China at the time of the account’s opening “to explore the potential for hotel deals in Asia,” but “no deals, transactions, or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive.”
2015-2017: Trump Tax Filings Revealed Trump Held A Chinese Bank Account Despite Pledging To Close It
2015-2017: Trump’s Tax Filings Said He Held A Bank Account In China.
According to the BBC, “Newly released tax returns for former President Donald Trump have shed light on his business losses, complicated tax set-ups and tax payments during his White House years. […] The documents also show that Mr Trump, who had international business dealings, held bank accounts in Ireland, the United Kingdom and China for a period that ran from 2015-17. The overseas accounts were notable, as Mr Trump held the White House in 2017, giving him significant power over US foreign policy. From 2018 onward, Mr Trump only reported having an account in the UK.” [BBC, 12/30/22]
October 2020: Trump Lawyer Alan Garten Told The New York Times That The Chinese Bank Account “Remains Open.”
According to the New York Times, “In response to questions from The Times, Alan Garten, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, said the company had ‘opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes’ associated with efforts to do business there. He said the company had opened the account after establishing an office in China ‘to explore the potential for hotel deals in Asia.’ ‘No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,’ Mr. Garten said. ‘Though the bank account remains open, it has never been used for any other purpose.’” [New York Times, 10/20/20]
Trump Pledged He Would Close His Chinese Bank Account
Trump Claimed During A 2016 Presidential Debate That He Shut Down His Chinese Bank Account Before Running For President.
According to a column by Timothy O’Brien in Bloomberg, “The tax records released last week indicate that Trump had foreign bank accounts in China, Britain, Ireland, and St. Martin. The amount of money held in those accounts wasn’t detailed. Trump had the bank account in China in 2015, 2016 and 2017 even though he claimed during a presidential debate that he shut it before embarking on his 2016 presidential bid.” [Bloomberg – Column, 1/3/23]
Chinese Bank Account Was Held Under Trump International Hotels Management LLC
Trump International Hotels Management LLC Held A Chinese Bank Account.
According to the New York Times, “The Chinese account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., which the tax records show paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015.” [New York Times, 10/20/20]
The Trump Organization Would Not Say Which Bank Had The Account
Trump’s Lawyer Would Not Identify The Bank In China Where Trump Had An Account.
According to the New York Times, “Mr. Garten would not identify the bank in China where the account is held. Until last year, China’s biggest state-controlled bank rented three floors in Trump Tower, a lucrative lease that drew accusations of a conflict of interest for the president.” [New York Times, 10/20/20]
Tax crimes, tax evasion, massive debt, lies about his wealth, and corruption: See why Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns and lied about it
JUST LIKE HE SECRETLY SHIPPED TESTS TO PUTIN
Over 600 tons of face masks left U.S. airports for China in February alone, and then America had a shortage
The full scale and scope of what happened — including types of masks shipped, prices, and destinations for the shipments — are still shrouded in mystery.
APRIL 24, 2020 FOLLOWING REPORTS THAT TRUMP OWES MILLIONS TO CHINESE BANK, DUCKWORTH REQUESTS INVESTIGATION INTO DECISION TO SHIP TONS OF PPE AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES FROM THE U.S. TO CHINA
[WASHINGTON, DC] – In light of public reports that President Trump owes tens of millions of dollars to the Bank of China, one of the four largest state-owned commercial banks in that country, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today wrote to U.S. Representative James Clyburn (D-SC-06), the Chairman of the bipartisan Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, requesting an investigation into Trump’s decision to facilitate the transportation of 17.8 tons of donated personal protection equipment (PPE) and medical supplies—when his administration failed to adequately stockpile, manufacture or distribute enough PPE for American healthcare workers, support staff, first responders and employees of essential businesses—to China in February of this year. Specifically, Duckworth requested the Subcommittee investigate whether Trump’s reported $211 million outstanding loan from the Bank of China influenced his decision to use federal government resources to facilitate the shipment of donated PPE and medical supplies from the United States to China.
In part, Duckworth wrote, “According to an April 24, 2020 investigative report published by Politico (“Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon”), financial records indicate that “...Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China: In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump’s most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion.” This report also notes that President Trump’s debt “...includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China — its first loan of this kind in the U.S. — which matures in the middle of what could be Trump’s second term, financial records show.”
Duckworth continued, “The American people deserve to know whether the Trump administration’s failure to acquire, distribute and stockpile adequate supplies of PPE and other medical supplies at home, while shipping such supplies to China, are related to President Trump's personal indebtedness to the Bank of China and his fear of upsetting the PRC, which owns that bank.”
German politician adds to chorus of complaints about American tactics to source protective gear
Fears of shortages are driving many countries to take increasingly devious measures to secure masks and tests
2019
The largest American office of China's largest bank sits on the 20th floor of Trump Tower, six levels below the desk where Donald Trump built an empire and wrested a presidency. It's hard to get a glimpse inside. There do not appear to be any public photos of the office, the bank doesn't welcome visitors, and a man guards the elevators downstairs--one of the perks of forking over an estimated $2 million a year for the space.
Trump Tower officially lists the tenant as the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, but make no mistake who's paying the rent: the Chinese government, which owns a majority of the company. And while the landlord is technically the Trump Organization, make no mistake who's cashing those millions: the president of the United States, who has placed day-to-day management with his sons but retains 100% ownership. This lease expires in October 2019, according to a debt prospectus obtained by Forbes. So if you assume that the Trumps want to keep this lucrative tenant, then Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. could well be negotiating right now over how many millions the Chinese government will pay the sitting president. Unless he has already taken care of it: In September 2015 then-candidate Trump boasted to Forbes that he had "just renewed" the lease, around the time he was gearing up his campaign.
Those smiles look innocent.
Trump's Guo Wengui, Chinese Fugitive Billionaire Tycoon
People have suggested that perhaps Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon are gay lovers, as they have regularly traveled together on his yacht for several years. This wouldn't matter, if Steve wasn't a raging Bigot. Besides these romantic trips, we have some very provocative photos of the two, looking very much in love. All of that is only speculation, with no solid evidence.
Steve is 3x Divorced: 1988 Cathleen Houff Jordan, 1997 Mary Piccard, and 2009 Diane Clohesy, and acts hyper christian on his show.
Just 2 friendly sailors!
A high-profile Chinese fugitive is accused of being a spy for the Chinese government, according to new documents filed in a federal-court case in New York
The allegations – that Guo is some sort of double agent uncovering real dissidents – come as the FBI continues to investigate possible espionage at Mar-a-Lago
A high-profile Chinese fugitive – who belongs to US President Donald Trump’s exclusive South Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, and has railed against China’s government – is accused of being a spy for that very regime, according to new documents filed in a federal-court case in New York.
Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who also goes by Miles Kwok, fled to the United States four years ago after learning an associate had been arrested on corruption charges.
He is now one of China’s most-wanted, accused of myriad crimes by the Chinese government, including paying bribes and sexual assault. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges are politically motivated.
It was on Guo’s yacht that Bannon, the former chief White House strategist for Donald Trump, was arrested in a criminal fraud case in 2020.
Very sweet photos!
They look so happy together!
'We need to get this criminal out of the country' President allegedly said before changing mind
Donald Trump reportedly changed his mind about deporting a Chinese fugitive accused of rape after learning he was a paying member of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Guo Wengui, a billionaire real-estate developer, fled China in 2014 after learning he was about to be arrested on charges of rape, bribery and kidnapping, allegations he denies.
At a meeting to discuss foreign policy with China in June, Mr Trump told aides he knew of at least one "Chinese criminal" the US needed to deport immediately, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As the officials had entered the US on visas that did not allow them to conduct official business, they were confronted by FBI agents and told to leave the country.
However, two days later they visited Mr Guo again ahead of a planned to leave for China. FBI agents were poised to arrest them at John F Kennedy airport, but the State Department declined to give the go-ahead for the move over fears it could trigger a diplomatic crisis.
Mr Trump is not obliged to hand fugitives over to China as there is no extradition treaty between China and the US.
Looks like Guo almost went public.
Multiple people familiar with the matter told NBC News there is a separate federal inquiry involving a company linked to both men, GTV Media Group.
Prosecutors named Steve Bannon as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Collection of articles
Just be free!
Self-exiled Communist party critic and associate of Steve Bannon fleeced his online followers, prosecutors said
Federal authorities arrested Guo in March and charged him with defrauding thousands of online followers out of over $1 billion.
Trump adviser Jason Miller launched a new social media company that's being bankrolled by a buddy of pardoned Trump strategist Steve Bannon.
Is Guo Wengui allowed to have conjugal visits?
At least 3 Trump-era Chinese spy balloons went undetected
Mar-a-Lago is Spy Central
MAGA ELITE Li Yang, Founder of Florida spa tied to Robert Kraft, charged with human trafficking and soliciting prostitution, brought Chinese business people to Trump fundraiser
Li Yang owns the spa where the alleged Robert Kraft incident took place. She's also part of the MAGA elite.
Ms Yang's lawyer says that her client has been in the dark on the allegations raised against her following the human trafficking sting at a spa she no longer owns
April 7, 2021 President Trump’s 3,400 conflicts of interest
Congressional Integrity Project
After four years of covering up for Trump, MAGA Republicans in Congress have already made their priorities clear – relentlessly investigating Joe Biden, historic impeachments of Cabinet Secretaries, and likely efforts to impeach Biden himself. These investigations are revenge for the past two years of Biden working every day for all Americans, not the special interests.
The Congressional Integrity Project is changing that dynamic.
We’ll focus on spurious investigations designed to hurt the Biden administration and Democrats and to usher Donald Trump back into power – none of which address the real challenges affecting the daily lives of Americans.
CIP is fighting back against these politically motivated attacks.
Chinese Business Deals
As he raises questions about his opponent’s standing with China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities there, including a previously unknown bank account.
China has been busy buying Trump properties since the election and has granted Trump a long-sought series of trademarks in the country—just days after Trump reversed his position on Taiwan.
Trump over 1 Billion in Debt (200m+ China)
Donald Trump the self-described “King of Debt” has joined the Billion-Dollar Debt Club and most major American banks won’t even lend him money anymore!
In addition to the $650 million in Debt (Bank of China at least $211 million) and $340M to Deutsche Bank of Germany, Trump's wealth is tied up in three passive partnerships that owe an additional $2 billion to a string of lenders."
Deutsche Bank: $364 million
The troubled German bank is Trump’s top lender and has been for years. When the rest of Wall Street essentially abandoned Trump years ago, apparently frustrated by his business tactics, Deutsche Bank stuck by the celebrity developer. Well, not all of Deutsche Bank. In 2005, Trump borrowed $640 million from a group of banks, including Deutsche Bank, to build his Chicago tower. But by 2008, the real estate market had gone bad, and Trump was in financial trouble. Shortly before he was due to pay Deutsche Bank $40 million for a portion of the loan he had personally guaranteed, Trump filed a lawsuit against the German bank, demanding $3 billion to compensate him for the international economic turmoil that Trump claimed the bank had helped cause and that Trump now said was hurting his investment in Chicago.
Deutsche Bank among western institutions that processed billions of dollars in cash of ‘criminal origin’ through Latvia
The inside story of the president and Deutsche Bank, his lender of last resort.
The New York Times reported that Donald Trump's companies have more than twice the amount of debt shown in public filings made by his presidential campaign.
At least six of those loans, representing about $479 million in debt, are due over the next four years. Some are guaranteed by Trump himself, meaning a creditor could come after his personal—not corporate—assets if he defaults.
On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has sold himself as a businessman who has made billions of dollars and is beholden to no one.
But an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Mr. Trump’s real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt — twice the amount than can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times’s inquiry also found that Mr. Trump’s fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including one he has cited in attacks during his campaign.
For example, an office building on Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, of which Mr. Trump is part owner, carries a $950 million loan. Among the lenders: the Bank of China, one of the largest banks in a country that Mr. Trump has railed against as an economic foe of the United States, and Goldman Sachs, a financial institution he has said controls Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, after it paid her $675,000 in speaking fees.
That $950 million deal that was cobbled together by Goldman Sachs and the state-owned Bank of China—an arrangement that ethics experts believe violates the Constitution’s emolument clause, which prohibits foreign governments from providing financial benefits to federal officials.
The filing, submitted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, comes several years after a ProPublica investigation revealed conflicting financial details the Trump Organization filed for its downtown Manhattan skyscraper at 40 Wall Street.
Ladder Capital Finance is already the president’s second-largest creditor.
Ladder Capital: $282 million
Ladder Capital is not a traditional bank or a big name on Wall Street, but in the last several years it has joined Deutsche Bank as a main source of financing for Trump. In fact, since 2012, these two outfits have been the only ones to lend Trump money. Ladder Capital is a small Wall Street firm that specializes in loaning money for commercial real estate projects and, with the help of the big Wall Street banks, combining pieces of these loans into bigger packages that it then sells to investors.
One big issue with Trump’s loans from Ladder Capital is that he appears to be personally liable for at least $26 million of the debt. So if a problem with the loan emerges, Ladder Capital could ask Trump, not his business, to cover this amount personally. Even if Trump does remove himself from the operations of the Trump Organization and lets his adult children run the business, this conflict of interest would not be addressed. The man in the Oval Office would still be in hock to this financial institution.
There’s another major issue with the Ladder Capital loans. As was reported last week, Ladder Capital has hired Citibank to help organize a possible sale. Sources at the firm told Reuters that new federal regulations covering the repackaging of loans were making the company’s core business more complicated.
The building in question is 1290 Avenue of the Americas, which is located between West Fifty-first and West Fifty-second Streets. The majority owner of the building is Vornado Realty Trust, a big real-estate company that is run by the veteran developer Steven Roth. In 2007, the Trump Organization acquired a thirty-per-cent stake in the Sixth Avenue building and also in separate Vornado development, in San Francisco. By all appearances, the Vornado stake has been one of Trump’s most successful investments, and the Bank of China played a significant role in its success. “The debt stems from a $950 million refinancing deal in 2012, to which the Bank of China chipped in $211 million,” the Politico article said. “Vornado’s federal financial disclosures show it and the other owner of 1290 Avenue of the Americas—Trump—are still indebted from the 2012 deal.”
For Further Research:
Exposing Donald Trump, the Trump Crime Family, and the Republican Terrorist Organization behind him
The Trumps: Made in China, Their Chinese Outsourcing Addiction, 41 Trademarks, Boundless Hypocrisy, Blatant Disregard For The Emoluments Clause, & Don's Fantasy To Be Like Xi Jinping When He Grows Up!
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