The New Yorker Magazine: Donald Trump's Worst Deal
The President helped build a hotel in Azerbaijan that appears to be a corrupt operation engineered by oligarchs tied to Irans Revolutionary Guard.
But Mother Jones had first broken this story: Donald Trump Is Doing Business With a Controversial Azerbaijani Oligarch
Luxury hotels bearing Donald Trump's name grace some of the world's ritziest locations, including New York, Waikiki, and Rio. There is one outlier: the Trump Hotel and Tower in Baku, the capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan. And the story of this particular deal involves an unconventional and controversial business ally. Trump's partner in the venture is Anar Mammadov, a 34-year-old billionaire playboy whose father serves as Azerbaijan's transportation minister. According to media reports and opposition critics in the tiny Caucasian countrywhich is considered one of the world's most corrupt regimesMammadov's wealth has resulted in part from his father's political connections. Meanwhile, Mammadov has mounted a campaign to rehabilitate Azerbaijan's kleptocratic image in the West by courting some of Washington's most powerful politicians.
Fueled by billions of dollars reaped from the country's oil and gas fields, Baku has transformed over the last decade into a city of flamboyant excess and garish architecture. The latest addition to the glittering skyline is the Trump Tower, a 33-floor luxury hotel in the shape of a sail, which was originally slated to open last month. A hotel spokeswoman said it would open by the end of the year
Fueled by billions of dollars reaped from the country's oil and gas fields, Baku has transformed over the last decade into a city of flamboyant excess and garish architecture. The latest addition to the glittering skyline is the Trump Tower, a 33-floor luxury hotel in the shape of a sail, which was originally slated to open last month. A hotel spokeswoman said it would open by the end of the year