What documented business deals has the Trump Organization had with Russian individuals or companies?
Executive summary
The Trump Organization’s documented dealings with Russian individuals and companies fall into two categories: transactions tied to Russian purchasers and partners in Trump-branded projects outside Russia, and repeated attempts to build or license properties in Russia—none of which produced a completed Trump development in Moscow. These interactions include property sales to Russian oligarchs, partnerships with Bayrock and the Sapir group on Trump SoHo, the Miss Universe/Crocus relationship and a negotiated but unrealized Trump Tower Moscow, all of which have been examined in reporting and by investigators [1] [2] [3].
1. Early outreach, trademarks and aborted Moscow pursuits
The Trump Organization pursued interest in the Russian market for decades: Trump visited Moscow and Leningrad in the late 1980s and filed trademark applications in the 1990s and 2000s to support potential Russian developments, reflecting repeated attempts to seed a Trump-branded real-estate footprint in Russia even as many proposals failed to materialize [1] [4].
2. Bayrock, Trump SoHo and Russian capital flowing into U.S. projects
A more concrete set of links emerged from partnerships outside Russia, notably the Bayrock Group collaboration that produced Trump SoHo; Bayrock’s Russian-born figures and the presence of wealthy Russian buyers in Trump projects have been repeatedly documented, and some reporting and investigations have probed whether Russian money helped finance Trump SoHo and other Trump-branded developments [5] [2] [6].
3. The $95 million sale of Maison de l’Amitié to Dmitry Rybolovlev
One of the clearest, documented transactions was Donald Trump’s 2008 sale of his Palm Beach estate, Maison de l’Amitié, to Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev for $95 million — a sale widely reported as a record at the time and which stands out as an unequivocal Trump Organization business dealing with a Russian individual [1] [4].
4. Miss Universe in Moscow, the Agalarov/Crocus connection, and the Trump Tower Moscow effort
The Trump Organization’s commercial ties with Aras Agalarov’s Crocus Group—centered on bringing the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013—led to further negotiations for a Trump Tower Moscow project: a preliminary term sheet with Crocus reportedly contemplated ongoing licensing revenues for the Trump Organization, and Michael Cohen and other intermediaries negotiated drafts and letters seeking Moscow government support; the project was pursued but ultimately abandoned [3] [7] [5].
5. Investigations, Mueller’s summary of pursued deals, denials and evidentiary gaps
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report summarized three Russia-related business pursuits the Trump Organization chased around the 2016 campaign period, including the Crocus proposal, and described internal communications that advanced those efforts; contemporaneous reporting and congressional requests for bank documents also examined Russians who dealt with Trump entities [3] [1]. At the same time, Trump has repeatedly denied loans or deals with Russia and has not substantiated the absence of financial entanglements by releasing full tax returns, a point raised by critics and independent investigators as an evidentiary limitation [8] [9].
6. What is documented — and what remains open
Documented, incontrovertible business activity includes sales to Russian individuals (e.g., Rybolovlev) and licensing/partnership arrangements tied to projects like Trump SoHo and the Miss Universe/Crocus relationship, plus a negotiated but uncompleted Trump Tower Moscow plan reflected in emails, term sheets and Cohen’s accounts [1] [2] [3] [7]. Reporting and timelines assembled by investigative outlets and researchers also document repeated Russian purchasers of Trump-branded units and a steady pattern of outreach to Russian developers, while definitive public proof that the Trump Organization accepted illicit or concealed Russian financing for specific projects remains contested and subject to ongoing scrutiny in the sources reviewed [2] [10].