what happened to trumps plans for golf course puerto rico

by Ettie Feeney 10 min read

What happened to Puerto Rico's Trump Golf Club?

Sep 26, 2017 · Part of the debt that Puerto Rico carries is thanks to Trump and, inevitably, a golf course. In 2008, Trump licensed his name to a golf course in Puerto Rico. A few years later, that golf course borrowed a hefty $26.4 million in municipal bonds. A few years after that, in 2015, the golf course declared bankruptcy, leaving Puerto Rico holding the bag and the debt, because …

Did Donald Trump set Coco Beach Golf and Country Club on course?

Oct 12, 2016 · The former Trump International Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Donald Trump claimed he had a plan to save a failing Puerto Rican golf resort: He would streamline its budget and attract new members. Those promises, repeated for years, helped the club sell a raft of government-backed bonds that it had very little chance of repaying.

How much did it cost to build the Puerto Rico golf resort?

Jul 13, 2015 · Trump golf club in Puerto Rico files for bankruptcy Owned by developer Empresas Diaz, the club uses the Trump name under a licensing agreement. Donald Trump does not own the club. Owned by...

How did Trump’s deal with the owners of Mar-a-Lago work?

Jul 14, 2015 · July 14, 2015 A view of he eighth hole at Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico. Michael Cohen / Getty Images The bad news just keeps on coming for Donald Trump. According to CNBC, Trump...

When did Trump International Golf Club go bankrupt?

When the Trump International Golf Club filed for Bankruptcy in July 2015 -- just a month after Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign -- Trump's family members did everything they could to distance themselves from the failed project. See full story.

Why did Trump abandon Mar-a-Lago?

In 2006, Trump and billionaire condo king Jorge Perez began selling a 23-story apartment building near Trump's exclusive club, Mar-a-Lago, but the project was abandoned a year later because of slow sales.

How many stories are there in the Trump Hotel?

The 13-story Trump hotel should have been a sun-kissed shoreline landmark. Instead, the project remains 40% incomplete, and the developer has become ensnared in a corruption investigation. See full story .

Where did Felix Sater work?

Russian-born Felix Sater worked at Bayrock, a New York-based firm that partnered with Donald Trump on real estate deals in the early 2000s, including Trump SoHo. Prior to that, Sater was a Wall Street broker until serving a year in prison for stabbing a man in the face with a margarita glass during a bar fight. See full story .

Who is the developer of Trump International Hotel?

Alex Shnaider, the developer behind the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Toronto, reportedly made moves to take the New York developer's name off the building in 2015, after Trump started running for president. See full story .

When did Trump buy the 1290 Avenue of Americas?

In 1994 a group of Chinese investors bailed Trump out of a debt-laded property on New York City's Upper West Side but kept him on as a 30% partner. Twelve years later they flipped the property for $1.76 billion and used the proceeds to buy 1290 Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan and the 555 California Street in San Francisco. See full story.

Who is Garant Holding?

Trump licensed his name to local developer Garant Holding, founded by Anar Mammadov, son of the country's transportation minister. Mammadov has faced allegations that he used contacts made through his father to secure deals worth over $1 billion. He has never been charged and couldn't be reached for comment. See full story .

Premise

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Donald Trump \"bankrupted\" a golf course in Puerto Rico, leaving taxpayers there on the hook for $33 million worth of debt.
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Aftermath

  • In the aftermath of a series of hurricanes in September 2017  particularly Maria, which devastated the United States territory of Puerto Rico  President Donald Trump reflected on the infrastructural damage caused by those storms in a 25 September 2017 tweet:
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Reactions

  • In response, public relations and marketing executive Lainie Green issued a series of tweets that went viral, accusing President Trump of having added to Puerto Ricos debt by bankrupting a golf course there and defaulting on $33 million worth of government-issued bonds:
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Ownership

  • According to documents first detailed in a 2016 BuzzFeed investigation, in 2008 Trump International entered into an arrangement with the owners of Coco Beach Golf & Country Club, a foundering resort and golf course that had opened in 2004 on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico about 30 miles from San Juan. Under the agreement, the future presidents company licensed th…
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Controversies

  • By October 2011, Coco Beach had defaulted on $26 million in bonds and had to seek another round of financing. In 2015, the company filed for bankruptcy under its original name, Coco Beach Golf and Country Club, citing debts of more than $78 million but only $9 million in assets. Bankruptcy court records show that Puerto Ricos Tourism Development Fund made a claim of $…
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Analysis

  • The evidence shows that Coca Beach had consistently been operating at a loss and accumulating debts in the years before Trump International became involved with its management. And a significant portion of the financial assistance provided by the Puerto Rican government was given in 2000 and 2004, well before the future U.S. presidents company arrived on the scene.
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Funding

  • However, one could argue that Trump International received a good deal of money from the Coco Beach deal yet failed to turn the club around, or even stanch its financial bleeding. According to the March 2011 bond offering (which was itself required to cover losses on the Puerto Rican governments 2000 and 2004 bond investments), Trump International had given certain assuranc…
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Results

  • Whatever that plan was, it did not succeed. The 2012 financials show that the clubs average annual losses rose to $6.3 million during the period that Trumps company provided management services to the resort (2008-2012), $1 million more per year than the business had been losing before. Further, for this lack of success, Trump International garnered a total of $609,607 in man…
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