In May, 2015, the Trump Org was informed that it's deal in Azerbaijan was likely part of a money-laundering operation run by Iran's IRGC and, specifically, the part of the IRGC that seeks WMD. Trump's top lawyer acknowledged they learned this by 2015. 1/
Though reporting suggests they knew, or should have, as early as 2011. Ivanka ran the project. They continued the project through the entire Presidential campaign and only canceled it in Dec., 2016. 2/
The Trump Org had the legal right to view the books of the entity they partnered with--ZQAN--and could have unlocked a scheme to kill Americans. They did nothing. (Other than accept $5M in payment from the scheme). 3/
When I reported this in March, 2017, the Trump Org acknowledged it was all true. https://t.co/i5fLaIxhiO 4/
newyorker.com/magazine/2017/…
The details: - The Trump Tower Baku was made as a deal with the Mammadov family. - US cables reveal the wildly corrupt business of the Mammadovs https://t.co/qgp8Vj4gUv And the Mammadovs role in Iran money-laundering https://t.co/kcOF6RICQH 5/
wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1…
wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/0…
- They key Iranian partners in the scheme, the Darvishi brothers, were (and remain) loyal to Mohamed Bagher ghalibaf, who ran WMD-acquisition efforts for missile systems, among many other dangerous acts: https://t.co/yjcWeHeyoV 6/
ifmat.org/connected-enti…
- Trump Org was not a bystander. - Ivanka Trump asked the Mammadovs to clear adjacent land--filled with the homes of working people--to create a park. - Anar Mammadov came to America in 2010 to buy respectability for his family. 7/
- He got nowhere, because he was comically corrupt and a fool. He spent millions seeking American partners to make his business seem respectable. - He got nowhere. Except for Trump. Trump was the one businessman who agreed to work with him. 8/
- The central challenge of an IRGC-money laundering scheme is to make it appear like it's NOT an IRGC-money laundering scheme. That was the service Trump org provided: a big, shiny gold name on a nakedly corrupt project. 9/
- This was a central business model for the Trump Org. - Consider his deals with Hary Tanoe, Silk Road Group, and in Panama, Vancouver, Toronto, etc. - They make no sense as real estate deals. But they make a lot of sense as $-laundering schemes. 10/
- It seems clear that working with the worst was not accidental or because of sloppy oversight. - The worst, least deal-with-able corrupt crooks are the ones willing to pay the most and to demand the least in actual services. 11/
- The basic economics of the Trump Org make no sense otherwise. - Companies don't flit from outerboro housing to lux hotels, to airlines and casinos, to TV and intl brands. - The core staff of Trump Org remained in place with all these shifts. 12/
- They were expert at *something* even if that thing wasn't the front business. - In short, the Afghan bounty story is the opposite of an outlier. It's the core story of Trump's career. - In economic terms, he sells a service. 13/
- That service is lending his "brand" to entities that can get no other legitimacy. - The only puzzle is that it continues to work. - Crucially: they don't hide this. They are quite open about it all. 14/
- Just do the slightest bit of digging into what Trump, Jr., and Ivanka have said about their intl deals and the nature of intl law. - THIS is the Kompromat. - It's not that Putin tricked Trump into some weird embarrassing episode. 15/
- It's that the core business was money-laundering and supporting corruption. - There are boring legal questions about what laws he did or didn't break. 16/
- But in the case of Azerbaijan--as, it appears, Afghanistan--there should be no doubt. Trump made money by helping schemers who kill Americans. And he did that knowingly. That this might not be illegal is a problem for another day. But it's disqualifying for a President. end
