President Donald Trumps company planned to give a $50 million penthouse at Trump Tower Moscow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the company negotiated the luxury real estate development during the 2016 campaign, according to four people, one of them the originator of the plan.
Two US law enforcement officials told BuzzFeed News that Michael Cohen, Trumps personal lawyer at the time, discussed the idea with a representative of Dmitry Peskov, Putins press secretary.
The Trump Tower Moscow plan is at the heart of a new plea agreement by Cohen, who led the negotiations to bring a gleaming, 100-story building to the Russian capital. Cohen acknowledged in court that he had lied to Congress about the plan in order to protect Trump and his presidential campaign.
The revelation that representatives of the Trump Organization planned to forge direct financial links with the leader of a hostile nation at the height of the campaign raises fresh questions about President Trump's relationship with the Kremlin. The plan never went anywhere because the tower deal ultimately fizzled, and it is not clear whether Trump knew of the intention to give away the penthouse. But Cohen said in court documents that he regularly briefed Trump and his family on the Moscow negotiations.
BuzzFeed News first reported in May on the secret dealings of Cohen and his business associate Felix Sater with political and business figures in Moscow.
The two men worked furiously behind the scenes into the summer of 2016 to get the Moscow deal finished despite public claims that the development was canned in January, before Trump won the Republican nomination. Sater told BuzzFeed News today that he and Cohen thought giving the Trump Towers most luxurious apartment, a $50 million penthouse, to Putin would entice other wealthy buyers to purchase their own. In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin, Sater told BuzzFeed News. My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin. A second source confirmed the plan.
Sater, a brash real estate promoter who pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1998 and became a longtime asset to US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, had worked with the Trump Organization on deals in the past and said he came up with the idea. Cohen, Sater recalled, said, Great idea.
Article's a bit longer but yeah
Also they have screenshots of the text between Cohen and Sater lmao ---
President Trump has called it "ridiculous," a "horrible law" that made it difficult for U.S. companies to compete overseas.
But the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars businesses from paying bribes to overseas officials, remains a key part of U.S. efforts to combat global corruption.
Now one study is showing the Trump administration's use of the law may be declining, even as administration officials say they're committed to enforcing it.
The law was passed in 1977. Some 400 U.S. companies, including big names like Lockheed and Chiquita, had acknowledged they had paid off foreign officials to win business.
"Many companies were making routine bribes to the heads of governments and others in countries, just to simply buy the business," said Meredith McGehee, chief of policy, programs and strategy at Issue One, a nonprofit organization that looks at money in politics.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act applies to any company with a U.S. connection, including foreign firms traded on U.S. exchanges. Companies that have been prosecuted over the years include Siemens, Goodyear, Daimler AG, Alcoa and Halliburton.
"Essentially, [the law] makes it illegal for companies and officers of those companies, to influence foreign officials with anything of value, any bribes," McGehee said.
"And 'bribes' is defined very broadly; there's not a need for a quid pro quo. It's essentially anything of value that you are giving to influence a foreign official to promote your business, or to promote getting a contract or any other benefit for your company," she added.
