PART 2:
The FBI is reviewing negotiations and financing surrounding the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, a project that Ivanka Trump played a leading role in developing before her father’s presidential campaign, according to CNN. The project was developed by the Vancouver Holborn Group, whose CEO is wealthy Malaysian scion Joo Kim Tiah, whose father was convicted of making false reports to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said his group chose to focus its emoluments lawsuit on the most direct and important target, Donald Trump, but that everything that applies to the president applies to his daughter. “You really still have conflicts of interest for any matter concerning that company,” he said.
Officials at the White House and the Trump Organization did not respond to questions about Ivanka Trump’s relationship to the business.
But
Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for the attorney hired by Ivanka Trump and Kushner, told McClatchy that her relationship to the Trump Organization was modified last year based on advice she received from lawyers.
“When Ms. Trump became a federal employee, she transitioned from being an active investor and manager to being merely a passive investor,” he said. “She did this as a result of ethics advice she received, and has followed that advice.”
Ivanka Trump’s financial disclosure report states that the Office of Government Ethics asked that she receive lump-sum payments instead of a profit-driven fluctuating amount of money to reduce her interest in the performance of the business.
The cap does nothing to solve the problem. Her relationship to the entity remains the same
Austin Evers, former senior counsel in State Department who is now executive director of the watchdog group American Oversight
According to the 98-page financial disclosure report, Ivanka Trump was to receive these lump-sums from three Delaware incorporated companies, all affiliated with the Trump Organization. They are: $800,000 from TTT Consulting and $600,000 from TTTT Venture, both for consulting, licensing and management of real estate properties; and $100,000 from T International Realty for consulting work for the luxury real estate brokerage company.
Ivanka Trump also retains an interest in Ivanka Opo Hotel Manager LLC, which includes the Washington hotel project that she spearheaded before joining the White House. The hotel, which includes an Ivanka Trump branded spa, has quickly become a popular meeting place for Republican and conservative groups in the nation’s capital. The report does not indicate how much she will receive from the hotel.
Mirijanian said before she joined the White House, Ivanka Trump invested money in a number of different companies with her family members, sharing in any profits.
“She no longer provides any services to those companies, and she no longer receives any earned income or compensation from them,” he said. “Based on her prior financial investment in those companies, she now receives fixed income based on her passive investment in those companies, something not uncommon for federal employees with outside investments.”
Ivanka Trump promoted the GOP’s tax overhaul efforts at a special event held at Capitol Hill on Oct. 25. Emma DumainMcClatchy DC Bureau
Robert Kelner, a Washington attorney who represents federal employees who are required to file financial disclosure reports, said he has never had an agency or OGE ask one of his clients to switch to a fixed income. He criticized the practice, saying it only addresses the appearance of financial conflicts of interest and not actual conflicts of interest.
Some wealthy officials who served in current and previous administrations have divested their investments and holdings. But others have not, choosing instead to place their assets in a trust and recuse themselves on issues that could relate to their financial interests.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, for example, effectively “cashed out” $180 million worth of ExxonMobile shares that would have become vested over a decade after his planned March 2017 retirement. Those shares, earned retirement compensation for the long-serving executive, were sold in advance and then the money was put into a trust that will distribute the money to Tillerson over a 10-year period.
Ivanka Trump's disclosure differs, however, in that the Trump Organization is a collection of privately held companies that disclose little to the public, and none of the family members have made their recent tax returns public. That means there is no way to know what her lump-sum payments actually represent beyond a vague stake in the family business that is not tied to present profits.
An OGE official declined to speak about any specific case, but said that it’s “not uncommon” for the office to ask an employee to switch to a fixed income to alleviate concerns stemming from a federal law that forbid employees from participating in government matters if they or their family has a financial interest.
To further reduce Ivanka Trump’s interest in each of the companies, the fixed payments are being guaranteed by the other two companies.
The OGE official said that a so-called cross-guarantee doesn’t help conflicts of interests issues. “We don’t usually get involved with this,” the official said.
Ivanka Trump shifted
her assets to various trusts while she serves in the White House, though many questions remain about the details of the arrangement, which have not been disclosed.
Her father, for example, did not fully separate from his business interests when he was sworn in as president. Instead he placed his holdings in a trust designed to hold assets for his “exclusive benefit,” which he can receive at any time. He also retains the authority to revoke the trust.
Kevin G. Hall and Ben Wieder in Washington contributed.
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