In Reply to: PEDO Tacos again....reverses the 20% fee. NM posted by bluebellknoll on July 14, 2026 at 08:58:45
$2 million dollars.
= The most corrupt US President.
NYT: "The lead investor in a South Korean aluminum company that has challenged Commerce Department penalties on certain exports from South Korea to the United States made a $2 million payment last year to President Trump’s holding company.
The payment by the parent company, Base Group, was revealed for the first time in Mr. Trump’s annual financial disclosure form released in late June.
The document offered only a cryptic explanation for the payment, stating that it was part of a “letter of intent” and a “nonrefundable development fee.” In statements to The New York Times, the company and the Trump family said the payment relates to a still-unannounced golf course project.
Base Group has spent nearly a decade courting the Trump family, exclusively selling Trump-branded wine in South Korea and, more recently, hosting Mr. Trump’s son Eric at its Seoul headquarters.
The topic at the February gathering, according to a company executive: ways to increase trade between South Korea and the United States.
The efforts by Base Group to build ties with Mr. Trump and his family come as its corporate affiliate, Korea Aluminium, has curbed exports to the United States after the Commerce Department concluded that a group of South Korean companies circumvented trade duties on Chinese-made aluminum.
The New York Times found no evidence that Mr. Trump or a member of his family had intervened with U.S. officials on behalf of Base Group or Korea Aluminium. Base Group also disputed that it had violated any U.S. trade rules.
Alan Garten, the chief legal officer for Trump Organization, said in a statement that the payment was not related to the trade dispute.
“We have been in the golf, hospitality and real estate business for decades and have entered into transactions with countless companies around the world,” Mr. Garten said in the statement. “Any suggestion that this transaction was driven by anything other than legitimate business considerations is pure fiction.”
Still, the financial ties between the president and the South Korean company illustrate the minefield Mr. Trump has created by maintaining personal financial ties with nearly 30 different business ventures with foreign counterparts worldwide — unlike any other president in modern American history.
And it demonstrates how Mr. Trump is now benefiting from deals with foreign companies whose fortunes are affected by the decisions of his administration.
A White House spokesman said that Mr. Trump had not been involved in the trade dispute.
“There are no conflicts of interest, and the only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said in a statement.
The Base Group payment is a small piece of at least $125 million in payments Mr. Trump’s holding company collected last year directly from foreign sources in several countries, including Britain, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.