Thread by @ProPublica

1/ The Trump Organization has more projects in India than anywhere else. Corruption in the real estate industry there is the norm.

Let's dive in. We have lots of new details from Investigative Fund reporter Anjali Kamat. propub.li/2GhpIgD

2/ The Trump Org made its first deal in India in 2010. That same year Transparency International, a global anti-corruption group, gave India a score of 3.3 out 10 for perceived corruption (zero = most corrupt). [Source: transparency.org/cpi2010/results]

3/ The first project was supposed to be a super luxury 65-story tower in Mumbai with just 45 apartments.

4/ According to the initial plans, each apartment was 1,500 sq. ft., with another 2000 sq. ft. written off as “fire decks” — a safety area in case of a fire. At the time, developers in Mumbai only had to pay government fees for apartments, not for fire decks. This was a problem.

5/ A state lawmaker at the time, Prakash Binsale, discovered this strange arrangement. He wrote a letter to city and state authorities saying that he uncovered “gross violations” of planning regulations.

But…

6/ Binsale suspected this was a $100 million fraud scheme.

7/ Binsale’s letter inspired an investigation and the Mumbai project was shut down in 2012 because of “irregularities.”

8/ A few months after that failed project, Don Jr. made a trip to Mumbai to intervene. He met with the highest level elected official in the state, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

9/ Don Jr. asked Chavan to overrule the cancellation of the luxury tower project. Chavan said no. Here’s what Chavan told us in an interview:

10/ Despite Don Jr.’s attempts to revive it, the project was officially dead. But the Trump family learned a valuable lesson: Instead of lobbying politicians, they would just enlist the politicians as their business partners.

11/ Their new approach has gone well. They found a new partner in Mumbai and launched a new project in 2014. Don Jr. traveled to India last month to promote it and the other projects.

12/ Trump Jr’s partners on another project in India said they booked $15 million in sales in just one day during his sales trip. And no, the company isn’t disclosing the buyers.

13/ It’s all there, in just another episode of Trump Inc -- with @anjucomet, @andreaWNYC, and @eisingerj.

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