Trump business partner Felix Sater has now stated publicly that the Trump Organization tried to bribe a foreign government official, Putin, with a $50 million penthouse, and two law enforcement sources confirmed to Buzz Feed News the bribe was communicated to Dmitry Peskov, a Putin aide, in violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, putting both the Trump Organization and it’s leader Donald Trump in serious legal jeopardy, which may explain why Trump has been so upset.
Here are some links and background information, but the case seems fairly straightforward to me, and if prosecuted could mean the end of both the Trump Presidency and the Trump Organization.
US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 is the most widely enforced anti-corruption law. It is the first to introduce corporate liability, responsibility for third parties and extraterritoriality for corruption offences, meaning companies and persons can be held criminally and civilly responsible for corruption offences committed abroad.
Anti-Bribery Provisions
The FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions apply broadly to three categories of persons or entities: ‘issuers’, ‘domestic concerns’ and certain persons and entities under ‘territorial jurisdiction’. These provisions prohibit (1) US persons and companies (domestic concerns), (2) companies organised under US laws, (3) companies that have their principal place of business in the US, (4) companies listed on stock exchanges in the US or (5) companies required to file periodic reports with the SEC (issuers), and (6) certain foreign persons and businesses acting while in the territory of the US (territorial jurisdiction) from making corrupt payments to foreign officials to obtain or retain business.
Some more details from Justice.gov (PDF)
It shall be unlawful for any issuer which has a class of securities registered pursuant to section 78l of this title or which is required to file reports under section 78o(d) of this title, or for any officer, director, employee, or agent of such issuer or any stockholder thereof acting on behalf of such issuer, to make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce corruptly in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment of any money, or offer, gift, promise to give, or authorization of the giving of anything of value to--
(1) any foreign official for purposes of
--
(A) (i) influencing any act or decision of such foreign official in his official capacity,
(ii) inducing such foreign official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official, or
(iii) securing any improper advantage; or
(B) inducing such foreign official to use his influence with a foreign government or instrumentality thereof to affect or influence any act or decision of such government or instrumentality, in order to assist such issuer in obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person;
As reported in Buzz Feed News:
President Donald Trump’s company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan.
Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, discussed the idea with a representative of Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary….
Sater told BuzzFeed News today that he and Cohen thought giving the Trump Tower’s most luxurious apartment, a $50 million penthouse, to Putin would entice other wealthy buyers to purchase their own. “In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Sater told BuzzFeed News. “My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.” A second source confirmed the plan.
Sater, a brash real estate promoter who pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1998 and became a longtime asset to US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, had worked with the Trump Organization on deals in the past and said he came up with the idea. Cohen, Sater recalled, said, “Great idea.”
According to the New York Times:
When Donald J. Trump took a run at building a tower in Moscow in the middle of his 2016 presidential campaign, it was the high point of a decades-long effort to plant the “Trump” flag there.
The role his former lawyer Michael D. Cohen played in the endeavor entered the spotlight again on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to misleading Congress. But the effort was led in large part by Felix Sater, a convicted felon and longtime business associate with deep ties to Russia.
To get the project off the ground, Mr. Sater dug into his address book and its more than 100 Russian contacts — including entries for President Vladimir V. Putin and a former general in Russian military intelligence. Mr. Sater tapped the general, Evgeny Shmykov, to help arrange visas for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump to visit Russia, according to emails and interviews with several people knowledgeable about the events.
For months, the felon, the former Russian intelligence officer and Mr. Trump’s lawyer worked to land the deal, speaking with a Putin aide, Russian bankers and real estate developers.
According to President Donald Trump:
President Donald Trump has defended his business interests as "very legal and very cool" as he comes under increasing pressure after Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about pursuing the construction of a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2016.
Tweeting Friday morning, hours after he landed in Argentina for a summit of the G20 leaders, Trump said that he "lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia" but added that he "put up zero money" and "didn't do the project."
"Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail..." he wrote.
"....Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project. Witch Hunt!"
According to his personal attorney:
Asked about the reporting on the idea of giving Putin the penthouse, Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani dismissed the idea that Trump was involved.
"The story is a story. The President never heard of this and the concept never got anywhere beyond an unfunded letter of intent and never even a proposal or draft contract," the former New York mayor said.
Earlier Thursday, Cohen
pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge from special counsel Robert Mueller of lying to Congress when he testified about the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow.
Cohen had previously said that talks on the project had ended in January 2016, but it was revealed Thursday that he had been discussing the project with Sater later into the 2016 presidential campaign.
