According to bombshell new reporting from the Miami Herald today, the luxury Trump Towers at Sunny Isles Beach in South Florida got a surprise and assumably unwelcome visit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday of this week.
The extravagant Florida property is actually owned by a shell company that’s controlled by two Russian businessmen and bears the scandal-ridden former president’s name as a result of a licensing deal between the shell company and Donald Trump that allows the owners to continue to use the Trump name branding for the condos.
“A squad of FBI special agents, assisted by local police, descended on Trump Tower III at 15811 Collins Ave. to carry out a search of unit 4102,” the local publication reported on the bombshell news. “It’s owned by a shell company, MIC-USA LLC, that is controlled by two Russian businessmen, Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Agunda Konstantinovna Makeeva, according to state corporation records.”
The Miami Herald further reports on the development:
On Friday, a spokesman for the FBI’s Miami field office said it ‘was conducting court-ordered law enforcement activity in the vicinity of that location,’ but provided no other information.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
The area of South Florida where the luxury Trump-branded condos are located is known as “Little Moscow” by locals.
“Sunny Isles Beach has been dubbed ‘Little Moscow’ by locals because it’s home to many Russian expatriates,” the report confirms. “Some expressed concerns about a backlash against their affluent beachfront community after the Russian military invaded Ukraine last year and the U.S. government started pursuing sanctions against oligarchs who hide their wealth in real estate in South Florida and other parts of the country.”
Approximately 10 years ago, the shell company reportedly purchased a three-bedroom, three-bath unit residence at Trump Tower III for a whopping $1.65 million.
“In 2020, BAC Florida Bank, which provided financing for the purchase, sued Patsulya and Makeeva, claiming they defaulted on their $975,000 mortgage. The dispute was resolved later that year, though it’s not clear how from the court records. MIC-USA, controlled by the two Russians, continued to own the 41st-floor unit at Trump Tower III,” the report reads.
Read the full bombshell report from the Miami Herald here.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Ajay Suresh, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
