Donald Trump’s luxury hotel and casino company violated the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba by doing business on the communist Island under the Fidel Castro’s presidency, Newsweek reported on Thursday.
Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts paid an American-based consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corp. at least $68,000 in 1998 as part of an elaborate scheme to cover up cash the Trump company had spent in Cuba, the report said. The consulting firm had instructed Trump’s company to make expenses incurred by travel to Cuba look legal by linking them to a charitable effort.
At the time, federal regulations prohibited Americans and American-based corporations from spending cash in Cuba in order to isolate the communist government economically. Only foreign charities or similar entities could spend cash in the country, including on travel.
Documents obtained by Newsweek show that executives for Trump’s company did not obtain a license to travel to Cuba from the Office of Foreign Assets and Control (OFAC) prior to their trip, which trade experts described as a flagrant violation of federal law. Had the casino company applied for a license at the time, one OFAC official said the chances of them receiving it would have been “essentially zero.
The purpose of the trip to Cuba, one former Trump executive told Newsweek, was to establish a “foothold” for the billionaire’s casino business should U.S. officials loosen or lift the trade embargo.
The Newsweek story could jeopardize Trump’s relationship with Cuban Americans, whom he has worked hard to win over. As recently as Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee participated in a town hall in Miami-Dade County, Fla., where Cuban Americans comprise more than 70 percent of the county’s registered Republicans.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a leading Cuban-American supporter of Trump, called the article “troubling” in a statement to the Miami Herald, though he added: “I will reserve judgment until we know all the facts and Donald has been given the opportunity to respond.”
Earlier this month, Trump promised to reverse the Obama administration’s efforts to restore relations with Cuba if the Castro regime continues to violate religious freedoms and imprison dissidents. A July poll by Florida International University found the state’s Cuban-American population favoring Trump over Hillary Clinton, 36-31 percent.
