Trump was sustained through 2008 real estate crash by all-cash transactions from Russian oligarchs
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McClatchy documents a flurry of all-cash sales that Donald Trump made directly to oligarchs, mobsters, and Putin-allies in Russian and former Soviet states while the real estate market was in freefall. That includes deals for people who were heavily involveTrump was sustained through 2008 real estate crash by all-cash transactions from Russian oligarchs
McClatchy documents a flurry of all-cash sales that Donald Trump made directly to oligarchs, mobsters, and Putin-allies in Russian and former Soviet states while the real estate market was in freefall. That includes deals for people who were heavily involved in the Russian-invaded territory of Crimea. These cash-up-front transactions aren’t a sideline for Trump. They are the core of his business. Buyers connected to Russia or former Soviet republics made 86 all-cash sales—totaling nearly $109 million—at 10 Trump-branded properties in South Florida and New York City, according to a new analysis shared with McClatchy. Many of them made purchases using shell companies designed to obscure their identities. Where previous reports have demonstrated that Russian oligarchs dragged Trump back from bankruptcy after his failures in Atlantic City, McClatchy’s list of cash-only transactions from Russia and former Soviet territories show how Trump was kept solvent and expanding even as the real estate market was crashing in 2008. While other companies were dependent on legitimate businesses working through mortgage companies that had suddenly tightened their belts, Trump was not. Instead, Trump was able to cheer from the sidelines of disaster, sheltered by money that continued to pour in through a pipeline he opened years before. And these transactions are just another indicator that contacts of Trump and his associates with Russian operatives in the run up to the 2016 election were not an aberration, but a continuation of business as usual. Adam Schiff: The size and scope of these cash purchases are deeply troubling as they can often signal money laundering activity, There have long been credible allegations of money laundering by the Trump Organization which, if true, would pose a real threat to the United States in the event that Russia were able to leverage evidence of illicit financial transactions against the president. In the months before the election. the Financial Times published multiple articles on how Donald Trump sold American real estate at premium prices to foreign nationals—many of them oligarchs from Russia and former Soviet states—as part of certainly appears to be an international money-laundering scheme. These articles were summarized on Daily Kos, and connected with other sources to show how Trump, deep in a fiscal hole following his largest and most comprehensive bankruptcy, was unable to secure financing to keep his company or his lifestyle alive from any normal, reputable source. So he did what he always does. He lied about it and took the Russian money. Read more