Trump Just Sold a $15.8 Million Condo to a Consultant Who Peddles Access to Powerful People
Legal?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/donald-trump-sells-park-avenue-penthouse-angela-chen
Trump Just Sold a $15.8 Million Condo to a Consultant Who Peddles Access to Powerful People
Meet the new owner of a Trump Park Avenue penthouse.
Russ Choma and Andy Kroll
Feb. 27, 2017 5:23 PM
Last week, Donald Trump's company sealed its first big post-inaugural real estate transaction, selling a $15.8 million penthouse to a Chinese-American business executive who runs a company that touts its ability to exploit connections with powerful people to broker business deals in China.
New York City property records show that Xiao Yan Chen, the founder and managing director of a business consulting firm called Global Alliance Associates, purchased the four-bedroom, six-bathroom condo in Trump's Park Avenue high-rise on February 21. Before taking office, Trump signed documents removing himself from the board of directors of Trump Park Avenue LLC, the entity that sold the unit, but he remains the LLC's owner.
Chen, who also goes by Angela Chen, did not return multiple calls and emails requesting comment. Her company bills itself as a "boutique business relationship consultancy" for US firms seeking to do business in China. "For a select clientele," the firm says that it "facilitates the right strategic relationships with the most prominent public and private decision makers in China."
"As counselors in consummating the right relationships—quite simply—we provide access," the company's website claims. "Establishing a network of credible and proprietary relationships, known by the Chinese as 'ghanxi,' is the single most important aspect of initiating and sustaining a successful business venture in China." A connection with Trump—even a fleeting one—could only help in the ghanxi department.
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The sale agreement for Chen's penthouse was signed by Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, whom Trump tapped to serve along with his sons on the three-person panel that will run his company while he serves as president. Weisselberg and a lawyer for Chen did not respond to requests for comment.
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