BRAZIL/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A well-connected businessman in Brazil conceived the idea of a luxurious getaway in Rio de Janeiro bearing a world-famous name: Trump. After work began on the Trump Hotel Rio de Janeiro, the businessman, Paulo Figueiredo Filho, boasted about his access to Donald J. Trump, who was then a candidate for president. Mr. Figueiredo, the grandson of the last military dictator in the authoritarian government that ran Brazil from 1964 to 1985, displayed a picture of himself with Mr. Trump at the Trump Tower in New York, both men flashing a thumbs-up sign…But at the end of 2016, the Trump Organization pulled out of the project, and the golden letters with the Trump name were removed from the seaside building. And now, the Brazilian investors who backed the project are engulfed in a growing bribery scandal, and an international arrest warrant is expected to be issued for Mr. Figueiredo. The federal police in Brazil this week arrested 13 entrepreneurs and bank executives charged with diverting public pension funds into two commercial projects, including the former Trump hotel, in exchange for bribes and illegal commissions.”
–Shasta Darlington, “Investors in Former Trump-Branded Hotel in Brazil Charged With Corruption,” The New York Times online, January 31, 2019