Quote:
Originally Posted by FlameOn
If he traded influence or promised specific action based on money received, yes it would be extremely unethical and illegal. Money chain linking Trump to Russia money also gives Russians leverage over Trump.
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First, this is in 2010, so there's no way anyone could have guessed that Trump would ultimately become President, so obviously there's no trading of influence contemporaneous with the transactions there. But more than that, it's just so many steps removed and such a minor participation even in the property with his name on it, there's no reason to think any of the participants would know or care about the other parts of that "money chain".
Was Putin even directly involved in the oversight decision on that financing by VEB? If so, what does it mean to have a stake sold "via" midlake resources? Did the bank know that that was how the transaction would be structured? What funds did Midlake receive, for doing what? Is this Alexander Shnaider person the sole shareholder of Midlake? Did he subsequently obtain and use those funds to finance construction of the Toronto property? Why would VEB, or this unknown investor, have any
clue what Schnaier was going to do with those funds? And most obviously, why on Earth would anyone think that Trump's company, simply by virtue of selling naming rights to a building in Toronto and taking back licensing fees (which is a relatively simple agreement), would have
any idea that
any of this had occurred?