Trump Soho Sales Suggest Money Laundering, Expert Tells Website

SOHO, NY — More than three-quarters of condominium sales at the Trump Soho Hotel were paid for in cash by shell companies, according to new investigation from BuzzFeed News. The transactions raise red flags for money laundering and other financial crimes, an expert told the website.

BuzzFeed published a report on Friday morning scrutinizing all of President Donald Trump’s condo sales, including those at the former Trump Soho Hotel. The news outlet reviewed every sale of a Trump-branded condo in the U.S., showing a startling number of buyers who paid in cash.

At the Trump Soho, which is now the Dominick Hotel, at least 77 percent of the sales went to shell companies who paid cash, BuzzFeed reported. The frequency of cash transactions in real estate deals, experts say, is an indication of possible money laundering.

BuzzFeed also notes a lawsuit that says three of the Soho units were bought by a former oligarch from Kazakhstan. The oligarch used money he allegedly stole from the former Soviet Republic, according to the suit. The lawsuit implies that the oligarch purchased properties in the U.S., including those at the Trump Soho, as way of laundering the stolen money.

BuzzFeed spoke with attorney and money laundering expert Ross Delston who said the Trump Soho sales were alarming.

"The circumstances of the sales and the fact that three of the properties were allegedly related to money laundering in Kazakhstan raise questions about the process by which units were sold in the Trump SoHo," Delston told BuzzFeed News.

"Having 77% of the transactions to anonymous buyers raises the probability that there are red flags for money laundering and other financial crime."

One of the developers behind Trump Soho had previously been convicted of money laundering in the 1990s, according to BuzzFeed.

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to an email from Patch seeking comment on Friday. The company did not respond to request for comment from BuzzFeed News, the news outlet said.

The beleaguered hotel and condo building has repeatedly been a source of scrutiny. Last year, ProPublica revealed that prosecutors had mulled criminal charges against Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.

In 2010, the Manhattan district attorney's office investigated claims that the siblings had misled prospective buyers of condominium units at the Trump Soho. The case was eventually dropped, with no criminal charges filed, after Trump's longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz donated $25,000 to the re-election campaign of district attorney Cy Vance, according to a joint report from ProPublica and WNYC in October. Vance has denied that the donation affected his prosecutorial decision.

Last month, the Trump Soho, located at 246 Spring St., officially dropped the president's name after the Trump Organization was bought out of its management contract at the hotel.

You can read BuzzFeed's full investigation here.

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch