ABC News features update on the story on Trump investments in Cap Cana
The US TV station, ABC News aired a news story covering the side of investors who lost big sums after having ploughed millions into the Trump Farallon Estates at Cap Cana, the would-be luxury development that had been planned by the local developers of Cap Cana and that was championed by then Apprentice-show star, today US President Donald J. Trump. ABC reminds readers that on the same day buildable lots in the cliff-top resort went on sale, dozens buyers bought out 95% of the development, snapping up more than US$350 million in property. There would have been condominium-hotel, a beach club, private villas, and a world class golf course, but all collapsed, reportedly due to the financial crash in 2008. Many investors lost their life savings.
ABC is following up the story now that after Trump reached the US Presidency, his son Eric Trump, the real estate developer, was back meeting with Cap Cana developers Ricardo and Fernando Hazoury at the property in February 2017. ABC recalled that in 2012, the Trump Organization had filed a lawsuit against the developers, accusing them of having “grossly underreported” the project’s sales figures to avoid having to pay the Trump company its share of the proceeds. “This was textbook fraud on a wide scale, involving millions of dollars,” the Trump lawsuit alleged.
ABC explains that unlike many of the original buyers – many of who saw their land lost to foreclosure – the Trumps had made US$12 million in licensing fees. Records show the legal claim was resolved in an undisclosed settlement.
Former US ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Wally Brewster, told ABC News that he wants to know if any of the president’s broad range of powers have become tools of leverage in the company’s dealings with the powerful Dominican family that is developing Cap Cana.
Brewster mentioned that the US government is still aggressively pursuing a slow-moving legal case that it brought against the project’s developer for more than US$12 million in US government loan guarantees issued by the Export-Import Bank of the United States but that were never repaid. The loans, bank officials told ABC News, were meant to help the Cap Cana developer to import US products.
Eryn Schornick, a lawyer with the watchdog group Global Witness told ABC News these are concerns inherent with having a US President whose family is doing extensive business overseas, as reported in ABC News.
“The primary concern I see with the potential of Mr. Trump’s family returning to the Dominican Republic is abuse of power,” said Schornick, who has done legal work in the Dominican. “The fact is, the Dominican Republic is a very small country. They’re in a place where doing business with [the family of] the President of the United States could influence the way in which any negotiations in foreign policy may happen.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trum…ry?id=55759829
Source: DR1, abcnews
June 13, 2018
Category: DR News |