More than a quarter of Donald Trump’s international business deals involve partners who have been investigated for, charged with or convicted of a crime, BuzzFeed News reported Thursday.
Out of 37 of Trump’s international deals, ten involved partners who were suspected of or convicted of criminal actions, the news site reported. In four deals, Trump’s partners were being investigated by authorities before he signed the deal. In six cases, his partners were investigated while Trump was involved in a signed deal. Two of those cases were closed with no finding of wrongdoing.
BuzzFeed examined court papers, news stories and witness accounts to compile its findings. Some of the highlights:
— In Dubai, the Trump Organization is building two golf courses and luxury villas with a partner who served a prison sentence for its role in a deal that would have defrauded Egyptians.
— In Indonesia, Trump’s company is developing two resorts with a partner who has been accused of money laundering and threatening the Indonesian attorney general.
— Two of Trump’s partners have been investigated for money laundering. In 2011, The Trump Organization struck a deal with Silk Road Group to build a Trump Tower in the former Soviet country of Georgia. Silk Road Group paid Trump $950,000 to license his name for developments there. Three years later, Silk Road was investigated by Georgian authorities for “financial crimes.” The government closed the probe in March 2014, saying it found no illegal activity. Silk Road says it still plans to build the tower. Last April, the Trump Organization announced it would build an office building in India. Its partner there, Ireo World, has been under investigation for money laundering since at least 2010. Trump reported receiving between $100,000 and $1 million from a licensing agreement.
BuzzFeed said the White House directed questions about the deals to the Trump Organization, which hasn’t commented.
The company’s general counsel, Alan Garten, once said that Trump partners with legal trouble are not “reflective of the portfolio as a whole,” and that there has “always been close vetting and extensive diligence performed.”
