Click here for an article at inkl news (a legitimate news aggregator; look it up) by Sidney Blumenthal, entitled "Trump’s attempts to distance himself from the Epstein files are failing."
One interesting aspect is its mention of a shady Trump real estate deal in 2004 as being the reason why he and Jeffrey Epstein ended their friendship. I knew about the deal long ago, when Trump first started seeking the Republican nomination, but I didn't know Epstein was involved.
I knew Trump was considered to be on the verge of bankruptcy when he was saved by being cast in The Apprentice. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts went bankrupt in 2004 and no American banks would deal with him, but he managed to get financing from Deutschebank to buy a Palm Beach estate for $41 million. Apparently the property was badly run down after years of neglect, and $41 million was considered to be a foolishly high price. However, although he never used the property and didn't put a dime into renovating or refurbishing it, he sold it four years later to a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin -- for $95 million. So Trump cleared a tidy $50 million in a deal that was considered by many to be obvious money laundering.
What I didn't know is that Trump's purchase of the estate came after a furious bidding war with Jeffrey Epstein.
Click here for an Associated Press article at NBC News dated November 2004 entitled "Trump casinos file for bankruptcy: Donald J. Trump's casino empire has filed for bankruptcy protection after months of negotiations with bondholders over restructructuring a crushing debt."
There's lots of other interesting stuff in the article -- like Trump's shady adventures owning modeling businesses -- that's well worth the read. One snippet:
Trump created Trump Model Management, also known as T Models, in 1999. T Models recruited girls as young as 14 to the US on tourist visas with lavish promises of fame and fortune, and once they arrived paid them minimally. “It is like modern-day slavery,” said one of the models, Rachel Blais. “Honestly, they are the most crooked agency I’ve ever worked for, and I’ve worked for quite a few.”
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