Jeeves, call and have them gas up the jet....

Today let's look into the world of mega-real estate developers.  Their's is a capital (cash) intensive business if there ever was one, with projects regularly requiring BILLIONS of dollars.  Unlike you and I, commercial developers don't go online to Lendingtree to see their four best offers.  These wheeler dealers are constantly on the lookout for new financing as, unlike our 30-year mortgages, they usually can only borrow money for five years at a time.  After five years their bankers can either renew their loans for another five years or demand their loans be paid back in full.  *Yikes!*  Hence developers are always networking, hoping to have new lenders at the ready if need be.

This is the world Donald Trump the developer dealt with every day.  That world nearly crashed and burned back in 1991 when his Atlantic City Taj Mahal casino failed, putting him $4B in debt.  After that debacle the major Wall Street banks declared Donald Trump persona non grata and declined to finance him any longer.  Enter billionaire financier Wilbur Ross, then an investment banker working for Rothschild, Inc.  He negotiated a deal that saved Trump, and the two have remained good friends to this day.  (Wilbur Ross is currently President Trump's Secretary of Commerce.)

In 2014, Ross, who personally made billions buying failing companies, turning them around, and then selling them for a handsome profit, turned his interests to the troubled Bank of Cyprus, on the small island nation in the eastern Mediterranean.  Injecting $400M, he became the bank's Co-Vice Chairman, along with Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, referred to in Russian media as a former KGB official and President Vladimir Putin ally.  (The bank had long been a favorite depository for Russian oligarch wealth.)

One of Ross’s first big decisions at the bank was the appointment of former Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann as chairman.  Ackermann’s ties to Russia were especially strong, including a warm relationship with President Putin.  Cyprus was one of the places the Obama administration was worried about because it was seen as a place that could help Russian entities evade US sanctions imposed after its seizure of the Crimea.  

The FBI has since requested from the Central Bank of Cyprus information connected to special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager who was indicted in October, and money that flowed between former Soviet states and the US through Cypriot banks.

It was with Deutsche Bank that Donald Trump began borrowing in 1998, and who he (his company) owes $360M+/-.  In 2016 Deutsche Bank was under investigation by the Justice Department for both its role in a "mirror trading" scheme with Russian oligarchs that allowed them to launder cash out of Russia in the face of US sanctions, and for its mortgage practices amid the financial crisis, for which regulators sought a $14B fine.   (They settled for a $7.2B fine.)  Deutsche Bank is also a major lender to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's family business.

In July 2016, it was reported US banking regulators as well as special counsel Robert Mueller were reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans Deutsche Bank made to Trump over the past two decades. 

Besides building and owning properties, the Trump organization also "brands" projects, meaning he puts his prestigious name on buildings owned by others in exchange for an equity interest.  One of those was the Trump Soho in NYC.  It seems the building was owned by Bayrock, which was sued by former Bayrock partner Jody Kriss with it alleged that "for most of its existence Bayrock was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated," engaging "in a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement."  

One of Bayrock's founders was Russian-born Felix Sater, a two-time convicted felon.  When publicly exposed, Trump de-branded the project saying he caught none of this while doing his "due diligence".  Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking at this, too.

Whew....this is dizzying!  Anyway, now Donald Trump is President, now Mr. Mueller is investigating, and we're here wondering what, if anything, is going on.  It might possibly come out that the election of 2016 wasn't Donald Trump's first time to receive help from the Russians.  Who knows?

Oh yeah, the LifeSTYLE of The Rich And Famous:

It's pretty sweet!

S

Son of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Master spy novelist John le Carre in Hamburg, 1964

You might be good, Mr. le Carre, but I think this one is even beyond YOUR imagination.  The embryonic plot:  A neophyte politician shocks the world and is actually elected President of the United States.  He's strong in economic theory and practice, but has to depend on others to give him advice on foreign matters.  But who?

Enter a former Navy SEAL, let's call him "Eric", working on behalf of the President-Elect, who travels quietly to The Seychelles, a small island archipelago in the Indian Ocean, to meet with a representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Oooo....let's have the meeting be set up by a Middle Eastern Prince!  The purpose of the meeting is to establish a "back channel for high level communications" between the two powerful leaders.  Or is it?  

Eric is adept at working in the shadows, having founded a "dark" para-military / security firm (something sinister sounding....Blackwater!) that makes him a fortune thanks to years of lucrative US government contracts.  Some of it, say a quarter million dollars, is later donated to the campaign of the President-Elect.  Oh, and to pique your interest even further, let's have Eric's multi-billionaire sister be the new President's Education Secretary, and a major campaign donor herself.

At about the same time, the President-Elect's National Security Adviser-designate, "Mike", a former 2 3-star Army General (Ret), makes some "innocent" phone calls to the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Igor...no...SERGEY Kislyak to wish him a nice Christmas holiday.  Later they talk again, this time their conversation centers around "logistics", nothing more.  Or does it?  Mike tells the new VEEP and others that it is an innocent enough visit, just part of his job to meet & greet.

But Mike, after spending a career in national security and counterintelligence, somehow forgets (?) that the Russian Ambassador's phone is always tapped, and on one of his innocent calls he is recorded discussing with Sergey the possible removal of the crippling economic sanctions the US imposed on Russia after they invaded a neighbor.  When his lie becomes known, Mike is dismissed by the new President after only 3 weeks on the job. 

Still, the press, smelling there is more to Mike's past, keeps digging.  They soon learn that while he is advising his neophyte American candidate (who was elected by promoting "America First"), Mike is accepting a half million dollars in remuneration for advising someone "close" to the autocratic leadership of Turkey, too.  In fact, after an attempted coup in Turkey, Mike meets with senior Turkish representatives to suggest how the suspected coup leader, now residing in Pennsylvania, USA, could be quietly "removed" from the US without going through the proper American extradition process.

Mike is a surprisingly sloppy intelligence operative, failing to file the proper paperwork with the country whose uniform he wore for 33 years, as representing a foreign government.  Mike also attends several events in Russia, having dinner seated right next to none other than the Russian President himself, while actually receiving $33,000 from the Russian government-controlled TV news outlet RT for his attendance.  

Claiming innocence, Mike files his paperwork late, but fearing he (and his 6-figure military pension) might be in serious trouble, offers to tell all he knows about....he won't say exactly what....in exchange for legal immunity.  (Should Mike now have a surrogate start his car for him?  *boom!*  Interesting subplot?)

Still another Presidential adviser, "Rock",  no, even better, Roger "Stone" admits he met up numerous times with a known Russian spy years ago, but shared nothing of value, claiming he just thought his "friend" was part of the Russian UN delegation.  Even though the Russian spy was recorded as saying he thought Mr. Stone was an "idiot", Roger is later brought on board to advise the new American President "how the world works."

Not enough....I need more intrigue?  OK, so how about if the President's own son-in-law, "Jared" (no, not the Subway perv), a young real estate mogul of note, quietly meets with a Mr. Sergey Gorkov, Russian President Putin's hand-picked man to be the CEO of state-owned Vnesheconombank.  Jared says it is to discuss personal banking matters, never mind that Vnesheconombank is itself on our officially sanctioned "do not touch" list.  Sergey, however, apparently doesn't get the memo, and tells us all it was to discuss those same sanctions that General Mike somehow forgot to mention.

Shortly after, our lame duck President, in his last days in office, expels 30+ Russian diplomats as punishment for Russia's meddling in the recent American election.  Vladimir Putin just smiles, looks the other way, and doesn't retaliate, greatly pleasing the new President-Elect. 

Whew!  Enough?  OK, so how did the neophyte politician ever manage to get elected in the first place?  By a stroke of supreme luck he manages to hire Paul, an accomplished political handler, away from ousted Ukrainian President (and confidant of Russia's Putin), Viktor Yanukovych.  And just like that....Wah La....Hail To The Chief!

Now my mind is truly mush.  I'm exhausted.  I'll have to finish my work-in-progess after I get some much needed sleep.  Maybe I can watch the news tomorrow and get some more inspiration.  *wink*

Nite all.  :)

S