Thread by @karolcummins

‼️The Developer - Roger Khafif

(Trump Ocean Club Panama 2005)

Trump’s involvement in the Ocean Club began in 2005, when local developer Roger Khafif travelled to Trump Tower in NY to pitch the idea of a Trump project in Panama.
reuters.com/investigates/s…

Khafif said he told Trump would need only to license his name & provide hotel management.

Salomón Shamah, Roger Khafif, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump.

📌Khafif recalled that Trump wanted to use the Panama project as a “baby” for his daughter Ivanka, who had just joined the Trump Organization, to gain experience in the property business.
reuters.com/investigates/s…

Roger Khafif divided his time between Panama, where he had become a citizen & S FL.

📌He had worked in the Panama Canal free-trade zone as an importer-exporter of clothing. Khalif, unlikely choice as a partner for one of Trump’s first international forays
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌”If Khafif seemed an implausible partner, Panama seemed an odd location for a project that would become a template of sorts for Trump’s international licensing deals.”
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌📌Panama was better known as a cog in the Latin American drug trade than as a tourist destination.

It’s a place to turn illegal profits into useable cash.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Money laundering helped fuel the proliferation of high-rises that gave Panama City its sleek, ultramodern skyline.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Trump signed on to Khafif’s plan and tapped Ivanka to take the leading role in the project, representing the Trump Organization.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

“Just entering her mid-20s, Ivanka was leading a major deal for the first time.”

“Ivanka traveled to Panama shortly after, and the agreement coalesced quickly.”

features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Ivanka and Trump’s sons appeared in public at launch events for the tower, made promotional videos for the project and managed the Trump involvement.
reuters.com/investigates/s…

Eric & Ivanka interview at the Ocean City Panama development

🎥

📌📌Trump left multiple observers with the impression that he had an equity stake in the TOC deal.

“He said the Trump organization does have a financial interest in the project but he would not disclose the amount,” #MossackFonseca
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌📌Marketing materials for the Panama project implied Trump was functioning as a developer.

“I am honored to develop this extraordinary high rise with my partner Roger Khafif of the K Group,” Trump was quoted as saying in one promotional statement.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌📌Buyers believed the Trumps and their company were functioning as the project’s developers, in partnership with Khafif, according to a lawsuit later filed by dozens of buyers.
features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

📌Trump lies...Trump did not have a penny of equity in the development, according to records of the bond sale and bankruptcy.

📌Nor was he the actual developer, as the Trump Organization’s own statement confirmed.

features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podc…

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.

#RogerKalif
#TrumpOceanClubPanama