February 20, 2017
KNOWING YOUR ALLIES:
Trump tower promoter's criminal record was concealed by feds : Years before Felix Sater helped lead the development of a Fort Lauderdale condo-hotel, he pleaded guilty in a massive stock fraud, but his case was sealed by the court -- and investors. (Michael Sallah, 2/01/12, Miami Herald)
http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article1940936.html
When Felix Sater and his partners launched a plan to put up a Trump tower in Fort Lauderdale -- luring scores of investors -- he had already been charged in an explosive securities scam with New York mob figures.He had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing in the $40 million swindle.But investors in the Trump tower never knew. [...]Born in the former Soviet Union and raised in New York, Sater began his rise in financial circles as a young stock broker in the 1990s.
Amid Russia scrutiny, Trump associates received informal Ukraine policy proposal (Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, 2/18/17, The Washington Post)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-ukraine-russia-policy-proposal-20170219-story.html
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and a former business associate met privately in New York City last month with a member of the Ukrainian parliament to discuss a peace plan for that country that could give Russia long-term control over territory it seized in 2014 and lead to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow.The meeting with Andrii Artemenko, the Ukrainian politician, involved Michael Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer since 2007, and Felix Sater, a Russian émigré to the United States who worked on real estate projects with Trump's company.The occurrence of the meeting, first reported Sunday by the New York Times, suggests that some in the region aligned with Russia have been seeking to use Trump business associates as an informal conduit to a new president who has signaled a desire to forge warmer relations with Russia.
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 20, 2017 6:11 AM