HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP BUSINESS: “Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee have asked the Trump Organization if it was aware of allegations that real estate agents and investors involved in the Trump Ocean Club in Panama had ties to money laundering and drug trafficking.
Democratic Representatives Norma Torres and Eliot Engel sent the letter, seen by Reuters, to the Trump Organization’s general counsel, Alan Garten, on Wednesday [2-28-18] evening.
They asked what due diligence was done on investors and agents involved in the project, which earned President Donald Trump between $30 million and $50 million for lending his name to it, according to court records. Garten wrote in an email on Thursday that he had not received the letter from Torres and Engel.
Torres and Engel largely based the questions in their letter on the findings of a Reuters investigation into the Trump Ocean Club published in November, in conjunction with U.S. broadcaster NBC News… They asked if the Trump Organization at any time became aware that ‘any agents or investors involved in Trump Ocean Club were involved in money laundering or illegal narcotics trafficking,’ and, if so, had they reported it to U.S. or Panamanian authorities and terminated business arrangements with any suspected individuals.”
-Brad Brooks, “Lawmakers question Trump ties to Panama project linked to laundering, trafficking,” Reuters, Mar. 1, 2018 06:15am