I doubt he took Russian money, either. Not unless he was willing to accept worthless rubles and use them only in Russia. 30 rubles to the $ today in Russia. 70 to the $ at the banks that will do conversions outside the country. This was a typical Trump deal, lease the name, reserve the management, the Trump's don't put up a dime outside soft costs. It was over the Russian's heads. The Hiltons and the Rothchild's ran into the same obstacles. No new Class A hotels. This the model perfected by Harry Helmsley and his syndicated partnerships, the same model used to build Battery Park City and Hunts Point Markets by the City of NY. Never sell the land, said the First Dutch Presbyterian Church of New York which hasn't been a church since 1866 yet is the City's largest private landlord. But all the mavens, all the experts here understand what I am speaking about and will gladly explain how corrupt these methods remain.
Grease that leather and pull that smoke wagon boys. I really want to hear how well you will make this happen. Where is Monty Python when we need him. Putin, the mouse that roared.
Don't worry kids, Jack the Giant killer is here, Jimmy Breslin would have loved the story.
Look up the story, and it did happen, how the Rockefeller's sold Rockefeller Center to the Japanese. The Japanese barely left with their shirts, and the Rockefeller's owned Rockefeller Center 3 years later, never having missed a dime of management monies. Who had the audacity to question the Rockefeller's? They didn't share a penny with American politicians either, and told the press at the time to bend over. My heart is a flutter.
