The criminal tenants of Trump Tower
Curated contentTrump Tower has a long and proud history of mobster and criminal residents. In true Blofeld fashion, one apartment was exclusively rented for cats.
This is a curated collection of findings by others and completed with many in-depth and further reading links. Countless sources are found throughout and at the end of the page. The primary source was Zeddy's Twitter thread, as well as this Bloomberg piece.
Remember that most Trump properties are owned via shell corporations and it is therefore often quite difficult to figure out who owns what. Most of these tenants have been ousted precisely because of their criminal activity, not unheard of when it comes to shell corporations.
David Bogatin
One of Trump Tower’s earliest tenants, purchased five condos for $6 million in 1984 in a deal that Trump personally closed. Later extradited from Poland after fleeing indictment in a Russian mob gas smuggling scheme. 7 year prison sentence.
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Joseph Weichselbaum
Trump’s personal chopper pilot in the 1980s. Upgraded from 32nd floor Trump Tower apartment to adjoining 49th floor condos while he was serving federal sentence for smuggling cocaine out of Colombia via Miami. The condos were paid for with all cash.
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Melvin Cooper
Convicted of helping mastermind a violent loan shark scheme for the Colombo and Gambino crime families in 1985. After getting out of prison he purchased a Trump Tower condo and later bought a second.
Read:
- LOAN-SHARKING INQUIRY GIVES OFFICIALS NEW INSIGHTS INTO ORGANIZED CRIME – The New York Times
- Elaine J. Thompson v Melvin Cooper :: 2005 :: New York Appellate Division, First Department Decisions :: New York Case Law :: New York Law :: US Law :: Justia
Sheldon Weinberg
Paid $180,000 a year in rent for his Trump Tower condo at the same time he was pulling in $30,000 a week from Medicare fraud. Sheldon disappeared in 1989 but was caught after the case was featured on ‘Unsolved Mysteries.’ Served 16 years.
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Roberto Polo
Art dealer. Extradited by the US to Switzerland in 1995 where he was convicted & sentenced to five years for stealing $124 million from investors. Among items he bought with the cash was 6 (SIX) Trump Tower condos via offshore shell companies.
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Tevfik Arif
A former Soviet economist that built a chain of luxury hotels in Turkey and Kazakhstan, and a Bayrock partner involved in the Trump SoHo deal, which operated out of the 24th floor of Trump Tower New York. In 2010, Arif was arrested by Turkish prosecutors and charged with setting up a prostitution ring after he was found aboard a boat with nine young women, two of whom were 16 years old . The women reportedly refused to talk, and Arif was acquitted.
Read:
- NY real estate mogul Tevfik Arif arrested on suspicion of running prostitute ring | Daily Mail Online
- Trump’s Russian Laundromat | The New Republic
- Here’s A Closer Look At Donald Trump’s Disturbingly Deep Ties To Russia
Helly Nahmad
Owns the entire 51st floor of Trump Tower. Pleaded guilty and received 12-month prison sentence in 2014 for operating an illegal, multi-million $ gambling business out of Trump Tower. Case tied to notorious Russian mafia “boss of all bosses” Semion Mogilevich.
Read:
- Billionaire Heir Helly Nahmad’s Art Gallery Raided By Feds In Russian Mob Gambling Sweep
- Billionaire US art dealer Hillel “Helly” Nahmad admits to running $100m global gambling ring | The Independent
Vadim Trincher
Former condo owner on 63rd floor of Trump Tower. Mastermind of Trump Tower gambling ring with Nahmad. 5 years in federal prison and $20 million in asset forfeiture for racketeering. Sentenced in 2014.
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Felix Sater
Worked in an office out of the 24th floor of Trump Tower and a Trump Org employee. Lead negotiations for Trump Tower Moscow and Trump Soho. 15 months in prison for stabbing a man with a margarita glass in 1991. Also convicted in 1998 for a $40 million stock trading scheme.
Read:
- Who Is Felix Sater? | Judicial Watch
- Trump SoHo: A Shiny Hotel Wrapped In Glass, But Hiding Mysteries | NPR
Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier
Haitian dictator, tied to death and torture of thousands of its citizens. Arrested upon return from exile and charged with embezzlement and human rights abuse. Owned a condo at Trump Tower valued at $2.5 million.
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Ernest Garcia II
Billionaire and owner of Drivetime. Huge stakeholder in those hellishly dystopian ‘car vending machines’ you see advertised. Owns an apartment in Trump Tower. In 1990 pleaded guilty to a $30 million bank fraud scheme tied to the Keating 5 Savings & Loan scandal
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Steven Hoffenberg
Leased office space on the 15th floor of Trump Tower mere months after the SEC sued him for operating the largest Ponzi scheme in American history until the Madoff scandal. Served 16 years of a 20 year sentence for bilking $475 million from investors.
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Vyacheslav Ivankov
Top Russian mafia boss and associate of Semion Mogilevich. Hid out in Trump Tower and was high-roller at Trump Taj Mahal even while subject of a worldwide FBI manhunt. 9-year prison sentence for racketeering. Shot dead in 2009 outside Moscow restaurant.
The FBI also struggled to figure out where Ivankov lived. “We were looking around, looking around, looking around,” James Moody, chief of the bureau’s organized crime section, told Friedman. “We had to go out and really beat the bushes. And then we found out that he was living in a luxury condo in Trump Tower.” — Trump’s Russian Laundromat | The New Republic
Anatoly Golubchik and Michael Sall
Co-conspirators in the Trincher Trump Tower Gambling Ring. Golubchik was described as an enforcer for the group, collecting debts with threat of violence. Both Golubchik and Sall forfeited their Trump Tower condos as criminal assets.
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Peter Kiritchenko
A Ukrainian businessman arrested on fraud charges in San Francisco in 1999. Prosecutors convinced Kiritchenko to testify against Pavel Lazarenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister. The government said the pair laundered hundreds of millions of dollars. Lazarenko was convicted of money laundering in the United States in 2004. Kiritchenko pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of stolen property, but said he had been an unwilling participant in the scheme. He and his daughter own two units at Trump Towers. Total value: $2.56 million.
Roberto Rincon
A Venezuelan oil industry contractor who pleaded guilty earlier this year to tax evasion and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Rincon and a business partner were accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to win $1 billion worth of contracts from Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. He is believed to be cooperating with American prosecutors in a wide-ranging investigation into PDVSA. The Trump Towers unit is held by an anonymous shell company. But Rincon’s son signed a permit for an interior renovation.
Jose Maria Marin
Former governor of Sao Paolo and President of the Brazilian Football League. Found guilty of seven counts of money laundering and wire fraud as part of the 2015 FIFA scandal. Currently in prison. Spent his house arrest pending trial at his condo in Trump Tower.
Read: A Former Top Brazilian Soccer Official Was Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison In The FIFA Case
Chuck Blazer
FIFA executive committee. Pleaded guilty as part of the same scandal. Racketeering, wire fraud, tax evasion, money laundering. Died before sentencing. Two luxury apartments in Trump Tower. One for himself and one exclusively for his cats.
Read: Meet Chuck Blazer, the former FIFA bigwig whose cats had a Trump Tower apartment | Fusion
Viktor Khrapunov
A former Kazakhstan energy minister and mayor of Almaty, owns three units in the Trump SoHo through shell companies, according to lawyers for the Kazakh city who filed a 2014 federal lawsuit against him in Los Angeles. Almaty’s lawyers alleged in the lawsuit that Khrapunov used real estate in California, New York, Europe and the Middle East to hide hundreds of millions of dollars looted by selling state-owned assets. Khrapunov, who lives in Switzerland, denies the claim, saying he and his family are being targeted by a political opponent, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Rafael Olvera Amezcua
A Mexican financier investigated in his home country for allegedly defrauding investors. Mexican regulators seized his credit union, FICREA, saying Olvera had purloined $184 million. He allegedly used the money to buy high-end real estate across the United States. His $1.8 million Trump Towers unit is currently registered in his son’s name.
Read: Swindler of thousands in Mexico lives in luxury in US, says suit
Paul Manafort
Former Trump campaign chairman, owned and lived in a condo on 43rd floor of Trump Tower. Currently in prison for money-laundering, bank fraud, tax fraud, witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States.
Read: Paul Manafort indicted on new fraud charges in New York.
Michael Cohen
Trump’s personal attorney, former Trump Org employee at Trump Tower and resident of Trump World Tower. Currently in prison for tax evasion, bank fraud, lying to investigators and campaign finance violations tied to illegal hush money payments at direction of Trump.
Read: Michael Cohen swipes at Trump as he reports to prison: ‘There still remains much to be told’ [Fox News]
"Where are the connections with the Russians?"
Semion Mogilevich to the BBC in 1999:
“How can you say that there is a Russian mafia in America?” he demanded. “The word mafia, as far as I understand the word, means a criminal group that is connected with the political organs, the police and the administration. I don’t know of a single Russian in the U.S. Senate, a single Russian in the U.S. Congress, a single Russian in the U.S. government. Where are the connections with the Russians? How can there be a Russian mafia in America? Where are their connections?”
Two decades later, we finally have an answer to Mogilevich’s question.
— Trump’s Russian Laundromat | The New Republic
“The FBI is always concerned if public officials can be blackmailed,” McCallion said. “It’s Russian-laundered money from people who operate under the good graces of President Putin. If these people pull the plug on the Trump Organization, it would go down pretty quickly.”
— Trump’s business network reached alleged Russian mobsters
Sources and further reading
- Inside Trump Tower — The skyscraper where Trump is already king
- Zeddy on Twitter: On the subject of #CrimeInfested. A thread.Trump’s most wanted tenants – Need to Impeach
- The bizarre history of Trump Tower — and why Donald loathes to leave it
- Viral ‘Crime Infested’ Trump Tower Thread Details Convicted Criminals, Russian Mobster Tenants Over The Years
- Trump’s Russian Laundromat | The New Republic
- A Russian Mobster Built Trump SoHo Into Putin’s Money Laundering Racket
- Before Trump attacked foreigners, he helped sell them condos in Florida | Bradenton Herald
Sidenote: The US has a program wherein foreigners who invest at least US $500,000 in certain designated projects and regions in the country can obtain a permanent resident visa that extends to family members included in the application.
How come they all live(d) so high up? Well, the residential part starts at floor 30. Which actually isn't that high up in Trump Tower. The lower floors are commercial, but there also exist no floors numbered 6-13. So when Trump says the tower has 68 stories, the true number is actually 58.