Trump picked stock fraud felon as senior adviser

[spanone]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump knew a man he named as a senior business adviser in 2010 had been convicted in a major Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme, according to Associated Press interviews and a review of court records.

Trump had worked with Felix Sater previously during the man's stint as an executive at Bayrock Group LLC, a real estate development firm that partnered with Trump on numerous projects after renting office space from the Trump Organization. But Sater's past was not widely known at the time because he was working as a government cooperator on mob cases and the judge overseeing Sater's own case kept the proceedings secret. After Sater's criminal history and past ties to organized crime came to light in 2007, Trump distanced himself from Sater.

Less than three years later, however, Trump tapped Sater for a business development role that came with the title of senior adviser to Donald Trump. Sater received Trump Organization business cards and was given an office within the Trump Organization's headquarters, on the same floor as Trump's own.

Trump said during an AP interview on Wednesday that he recalled only bare details of Sater.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/29c255c0b69a48258ecae69a61612537/trump-picked-stock-fraud-felon-senior-adviser

[Octafish]

1. A ''Trusted Colleague'' in other words.

Honor among thieves and all that rot.