Funny biz at Trump International

“In its waning days, as his own giving had slowed to a trickle, Mr. Trump contributed $10 million, leaving many people wondering where the burst of cash had come from,” the New York Times reports. While a 1:1 Ruffin-to-Trump correlation is difficult to make, that $21 million would certainly have come in handy for the perpetually strapped Trump. As the Grey Lady puts it, “The tax records, by their nature, do not specify whether the more than $21 million in payments from the Trump-Ruffin hotel helped prop up Mr. Trump’s campaign, his businesses or both. But they do show how the cash flowed, in a chain of transactions, to several Trump-controlled companies and then directly to Mr. Trump himself. The bulk of the money went through a company called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing that had little previous income, no clear business purpose and no employees. The Trump-Ruffin joint venture wrote it all off as a business expense.”

” … It was created in 2004, as Mr. Trump and Mr. Ruffin were drawing up plans for the Trump International Hotel. Precisely what it did, though, is obscure. It had no employees, or at least no payroll. And while the Trump-Ruffin joint venture certainly spent several million dollars a year to promote its room rentals and condominium sales, that money did not go to Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing. The company’s tax records show that it had little income over the years, posting modest profits only twice: $54,924 in 2007 and $420,756 in 2008. Then, in 2016, came a payment of $13,756,623 … The second unusual payment was for $2,685,000, divided between the two companies that hold Mr. Trump’s share of the hotel and then paid out directly to him. He called it one thing for the I.R.S. (a ‘loan fee’) and another in his public filings (a ‘sponsor fee’).” There’s also a mysterious “development fee” of almost $5 million.

Asked tax expert Daniel Shaviro, “Why all of a sudden does this company have more than $20 million in fees that haven’t been there before? And all of this money is going to a man who just happens to be running for president and might not have a lot of cash on hand?” Ruffin may have pulled a Howard Hughes and made an illegal campaign contribution, as opposed to paying for legitimate services. (Ruffin would seem to be in more potential trouble than his partner.) White House spokesman Judd Deere minimized it as “a standard business deal,” adding that “during his years as a successful businessman, Donald Trump was longtime partners with Phil Ruffin and earned whatever payments he received.”

Ruffin, for his part, passed the buck, blaming his underlings, an aide saying that “all tax statements go to the people who work on his taxes.” As for quid pro quo, Ruffin lobbied Trump for money for a Victorville-to-Vegas bullet train, a boondoggle that the previous administration had wisely nixed. Federal bonding approval was soon forthcoming. (A 2024 completion is predicted but we’re not holding our breath.) As Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman [I] said, “Anybody having the president’s ear genuinely—not just to have a meeting and have it fall into an empty basket that is 12 miles deep—I am all in favor of it.” Ruffin twice comped Treasure Island meeting space for Trump campaign rallies and falsely claimed, “You won’t hear this in the media, but Donald gave $20 million to the St. Jude children’s home. He could have used that $20 million for television ads, but he decided to give it to the children of cancer.” Trump did orchestrate the marriage of Ruffin, now 85, to a youthful Russian model, a sore point with the mogul (Ruffin, not Trump). The two have also sniffed around Moscow for real estate together.

Ruffin definitely made one untoward donation to Trump’s political career: $1 million to a super PAC that had to be deflated after improper coordination with the Trump campaign was revealed. (Ruffin got his money back.) Ruffin’s controversial infusion of 2016 capital conveniently coincides with a $10 million surge in Trump campaign funds right after Access Hollywood released its infamous “Grab ’em by the pussy” tape, something that would have ended the career of any politician other than the teflon-coated Trump. That was also when Sheldon Adelson came off the sidelines (I guess we know now what Sheldon thinks of women) with $20 million plus a Las Vegas Review-Journal endorsement. Ruffin publicly donated $1.5 million over the course of the 2016 campaign and put $1 million into the infamous Trump Foundation.

As for money pit Trump International, it was in red in from 2010-12, a period in which both partners subsidized it to the tune of $46 million. Its fortunes gradually improved and showed a cash reserve of $6 million in 2016, hardly the roaring success Trump has claimed but still respectable. But that’s when Ruffin started raiding the cookie jar, driving Trump Int’l to its biggest single-year loss in its history. Ruffin also guaranteed a $30 million bank loan made out to Trump. It’s thought possible that the money was for settling the $25 million Trump University lawsuit but far from proven. Ruffin’s own explanation for these machinations is as murky as the dealings themselves: “He had $28 million in back fees that he never collected. The hotel paid him [what] was owed to him. I don’t know what he did … It was his money.”

As for the Victorville choo-choo, it made unlikely political bedfellows, pitting Ruffin and then-Sen. Harry Reid (D) against GOP stalwarts Paul Ryan and Jeff Sessions. Trump seemed like an apostle of high-speed rail, saying in 2016, “You go to China, they have trains that go 300 miles an hour. We have trains that go ‘chug, chug, chug.’ And then they have to stop because the tracks split, right? We are like Third World.” Added Ruffin, “I mentioned it to Donald. And that would be something below his pay grade, so it would have to go to the Labor Department or the Transportation Department. “He said it sounds like a good deal, especially if it employs 80,000 people.” Torture-supervisor Stephen Bradbury, now with the Transportation Department, and boss Elaine Chao signed off on $1 billion in federal bond sales, a sweet accomplishment for Phil if the Choo-Choo To Nowhere ever gets built. And where would the Vegas terminal be? Hard by Trump International. Understates Ruffin, “We would benefit some.”

If you, too, would like to make money off the Trump presidency, bet heavily on his reelection. He’s a steep—and getting steeper—underdog on overseas futures markets. The Washington Examiner reports that $150 million has been wagered in Europe, with bets going 2-1 in favor of Joe Biden. The latter is given a 69% chance for victory versus Trump’s 33%. “The gap between Trump and Biden in the betting markets is getting closer in size to the one that has existed in the polls for months, but Biden’s fondness for a gaffe coupled with the learnings of 2016 suggest that to write off the president would be to do so at your peril,” warned OddsChecker spokesman Pete Watt. (Remember, bookies paid out prematurely in 2016, assuming a Hillary Clinton victory.) We agree. Like reader Mike Alexakis, we wouldn’t bet S&H Green Stamps on this election—at any level.