MSNBC expose on now w Richard Engel - Narco-a-lago: Money Laundering at the Trump Ocean Club Panama

[flamingdem]

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/

Richard Engel doing a bang up job exposing the Trump hotel that was used for money laundering by Russians and Mexican cartel money.

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In the early 2000s, a series of bankruptcies meant Donald J. Trump was shunned by most lenders. Struggling for credit, he started selling his name to high-end real estate projects. This report examines in detail the criminal connections that propelled one such project – the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama – and how this case bears some of the same disturbing hallmarks as other Trump developments.

Since he became President of the United States, numerous investigations and articles have probed Trump’s business dealings and his alleged links to criminals and other shadowy characters. It is understood that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation under the Department of Justice will also examine his real estate business. This is important because it seems likely that, following his various bankruptcies, at least a part of Trump’s business empire has been built on untraceable funds, some apparently linked to Russian criminal networks.

Trump may not have deliberately set out to facilitate criminal activity in his business dealings. But, as this Global Witness investigation shows, licensing his brand to the luxurious Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower in Panama aligned Trump’s financial interests with those of crooks looking to launder ill-gotten gains. Trump seems to have done little to nothing to prevent this. What is clear is that proceeds from Colombian cartels’ narcotics trafficking were laundered through the Trump Ocean Club and that Donald Trump was one of the beneficiaries.

One key player in the laundering of drug money at the Trump Ocean Club was notorious fraudster David Eduardo Helmut Murcia Guzmán, whom a U.S. court subsequently sentenced to nine years for laundering millions of dollars' worth of illicit funds, including narcotics proceeds, through companies and real estate.

Another was Murcia Guzmán’s business associate, Alexandre Henrique Ventura Nogueira, who brokered nearly a third of the 666 pre-construction unit sales at the Trump Ocean Club and claims to have sold 350-400 units overall. Ventura Nogueira’s sales brokerage was critical to ensuring the project’s lift-off and Trump’s ability to earn tens of millions of dollars.

[Mrs. Overall]

1. Very informative.

The level of corruption is horrible, but not surprising.

[flamingdem]

3. Just saw this DU post about the topic from earlier

I agree, not surprising, but so sleazy - now including the Mexican cartels.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029856899

[kacekwl]

51. If this asshole , his family and all the others involved don't go to prison

for some serious time then as a country we are fucked. Hear that Mr.Sessions. YOU are the top enforcer of laws , get busy.

[chelsea0011]

2. Any Senators demanding an investigation yet?

I won't hold my breath.

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. "Trump" -- the "McDonald's" of money laundering.

There's one near you!

So long as the franchise fee is sent to Comrade Donald in a timely manner, what does he care?

[flamingdem]

5. Let's hope Mueller is the Burger King

that will cut into his business.

[babylonsister]

6. dt is not going to like this; neither is Ivanka, or any of them.

Delicious!

[flamingdem]

14. Ivanka is currently in a baaad mood

but her husband's mood might be worse!

I wonder if she'll need her house arrest ankle bracelet sometime soon.

[BigmanPigman]

18. Not just because of hubby and daddy but Richard

nailed her too! She is as dirty as the money they are laundering. Her shit does not shine.

[iluvtennis]

41. Laughing my butt off, Ivanka Hose Arrest ankle accessories. :-)

[flamingdem]

54. The resistance could adopt these

but it's kinda hard to march with them on

[metalbot]

7. This is where the real indictments lie

The Russians definitely had a preference for who got elected president. They definitely ran spin on facebook and with fake news sites. Did they coordinate with Trump in a way that could be proven? Probably not.

Did Trump launder a fuck ton of Russian money? Did Trump rely on the Russian mafia for financing? Almost certainly, and there is a trail here that Mueller is going to be able to follow that is far more compelling than election interference.

[FakeNoose]

15. The Feds already knew about the money laundering in the casinos

They've been onto him for years, since long before he ran for President. It's been only a matter of time in that regard, they'll get him on RICO charges.

The newer stuff (with the Russians) that started with the campaign - that's all just icing on the cake.

[flamingdem]

30. Why do you think they waited so long?

They wanted to nail him more or they just weren't pissed off enough, had enough proof yet?

[Merlot]

42. That is my question too.

Also, NY state had a lot of stuff on him and they waited as well.

Now he's president, it may be to late. I always thtought that's why he ran for president, he thought he'd be in charge of everything. Didn't understand how the JD works, or the presidency for that matter.

[FakeNoose]

48. It has to do with getting former employees to testify

I'm not sure when I read this but it was at least a year ago - before the election.
At the time I was not a member of DU yet but I was on the Gawker blogs almost daily. A lot of stuff was posted but they aren't as careful about attributing the source material as DU is. For example the Steele dossier was posted on the Gawkers blogs before the election last year, however it was the version where they had blacked out the names.

So here's what I remember reading on Gawker. Trump's casinos had been laundering money for the Russian mob for years, but no mention was made of the Panama casino specifically. The FBI knew what was going on but they had no luck in getting any former employees to talk about it on record. The feds knew that the charges wouldn't stick in court unless actual participants are willing to testify. Apparently Trump's employees are required to sign a 25-year NDA even in foreign countries, but especially here in the USA. Sooner or later they'll find somebody who's willing talk on the record.

The casino in Panama has Trump's name on it, but he doesn't own it. There are lots of hotels and resorts with the name of "Trump" but all they do is pay him a royalty. He doesn't have any management control over those, and it's the same at the Panama resort.

The Trump casino in Atlantic City Nj went bankrupt and it's already closed. So I imagine it would be easier to find former employees who are willing to talk. Not sure about this because I don't have anything to do with law enforcement. Of course only a few trusted people know the whole truth, and they're the ones who don't get laid off.

[flamingdem]

49. Ah interesting, let's hope the canaries

decided to sing.

[uncle ray]

50. NDAs are not valid when investigators come-a-knockin. nt.

[FakeNoose]

53. I haven't been following it since I came on DU

Sorry I don't have more current info.
I joined DU right after the election last year and I'm not on Gawker any more.

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. He was involved with Russian mob, long before this.

He and Stone and Felix Sater and Paul Manafort go back years.
One of the ways they moved money was via the Blackrock group that I think Sater was part of.

Trump Hotel in Toronto went bankrupt, just like the others, and Trump's "business partner" was mobbed up.
Every one of his real estate/ casino deals had a shady biz. partner.
have no idea why he was not exposed before this.
Bribes, maybe.
t

[uponit7771]

8. Damn, Red Don is straight up a crook ... OBJECTIVELY involved with some REALLY shady people.

[flamingdem]

12. I hope they write him into the new Netflix Narcos series

They've got to do a bit about Panema.

[oasis]

9. It's really an eye opener.

[ananda]

10. And yet 45, family, and minions are still walking scot free.

nt

[Fred Sanders]

11. Obama Ocean Club confirmed used for drug money laundering...imagine RW media.

[babylonsister]

17. No kidding!! nt

[byronius]

20. Made me laugh.

Good lord that is an impossible image.

[uponit7771]

27. Yep, Obama would just need to have gone there once and they'd have 234234 investigations on it

[karynnj]

13. Pretty devasting

and there is no excuse as Panama was associated with money laundering at least as far back as the 1980s, when the BCCI investigation happened.

[flamingdem]

34. What's the BCCI investigation

??

[TexasTowelie]

39. The bank money laundering scandal from over 30 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Credit_and_Commerce_International

[karynnj]

40. BCCI was a Pakistani bank that zpanama's Noriego used

To launder drug money. This was found by a team working for a sub committee of the SFRC led by John Kerry. The more strands they looked at it the more they found a Web of money laundering by everyone from international drug rings to non state terrorists, including OBL. Many powerfull Americans were complicit so the investigation was stone walled and eventually the SFRC ended the sub committee. At that point, Jack Blum, who led the investigation, and Kerry took everything to NY DA Morgenthaul, who succeeded in closing the bank.

[babylonsister]

16. Bravo! Great show! nt

[Marie Marie]

19. The former President of Panama and Donald Trump really were

twins separated at birth. Birds of a feather...

[sandensea]

21. This much we know:

Trump himself must have gotten a real kick out of the design.

[klook]

24. Reminds me of something...

[sandensea]

26. A favorite of graphic designers since, well, pretty much forever.

[dixiegrrrrl]

45. Well done! n/t

[uponit7771]

29. He grabbed the mock up, wouldn't take his hand out of it :)

[sandensea]

37. You know it.

And I think we can guess who was on his mind:

[sandensea]

22. I don't doubt it is largely drug-financed, and that Cheeto knew full well.

That said, this would hardly be unique among Panama City high-rises (or Miami's, for that matter).

[klook]

23. Very well done program.

Worth a watch for those who missed it. I’m sure it’ll be available on the MSNBC site.

[burrowowl]

25. Highly recommend

he does very good work, like Rachel!

[Duppers]

28. It was another excellent

exposé from Richard Engel.

[RDANGELO]

31. Is there any word on when this is going to run again. I am at work.

[flamingdem]

35. It will run again at 9pm on the West Coast

not sure about the East coast but check their website, they'll have it soon

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. You tube often has those segments the next day, also. n/t

[octoberlib]

56. Here's the link

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-panama-building-a-magnet-for-dirty-money-laundering-1098757699956

[sarcasmo]

32. The Grifter will resign and say health reasons.

[flamingdem]

36. Will he get off scott free?

I think the NY AG is after him too.

[radical noodle]

47. I don't think so

He has always gotten away with every bad thing he ever did. He'll think he can talk his way out of this, too.

[Enoki33]

33. Seems it cost us taxpayers $100,000 for one of the

dotard’s sons to check on the progress of one of his developments. How the hell did we fall so far so fast?

[mehrrh]

38. Compelling expose

I just watched it -- tune it in on replay at some point. It's worth your time.
Wow!
No wonder Trump will not release his tax returns -- he is corrupt to the core.

[FirstLight]

43. watching now...

not surprising though...is it?

[Gothmog]

52. I miss a world where facts matter

Engel's story was well documented and is being ignored

[red dog 1]

55. K&R

[octoberlib]

57. The money laundering expert states a couple times that he doesn't think Trump knew anything

about what was going on. I call bullshit on this. Trump was fined 10 million dollars by the Treasury department for not enforcing rules to protect against money laundering in his casinos. Plus Ivanka was the one who hired the guy who sold the units in Trump Panama. There's been organized crime, mostly Russians, involved in every one of his buildings.

Trump and Ivanka were also sued for fraud for telling potential buyers that the Trump org was involved in the construction of a tower in SanDiego instead of just licensing the Trump name and doing the marketing. Ivanka's just as dirty as her father.

[orangecrush]

58. K&R

This is where the focus should be.

I personally wonder if this will be what brings Trump down.

[continentalop2]

59. As I was watching this I thought of something I haven't seen mentioned before.

Trump does these projects for a licensing fee which is essentially a made up number. When I realized that, a lightbulb went on for me. The mob traditionally did a lot of money laundering through businesses where you can just make up numbers like that, such as casinos and any types of coin-op machines.

So basically his Russian partners have a bunch of cash that they want to move into the US, and they set him up with one of these hotel deals. The Trump organization doesn't have to put up any money or really do much of anything, and Ivanka gets to play interior decorator. They give him the dirty money as a "licensing fee" for the supposedly valuable Trump brand name, and voila, the dirty Russian money is now clean and in the US. Trump keeps a cut and returns the rest to the true owner through some other transaction stateside.