Let me concede the point most coverage of Trump Tower Tbilisi has been built on, because the facts have moved past it. The tower is not rising on a parcel still held by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s foundation. Cartu — the fund tied to his family — sold it in July, and on Sept. 15, a spokesperson confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the final payment had been made.

That answers the question everyone has been asking: Who owns the ground under the tower? It leaves untouched the question almost no one has asked: how that ground came to be worth $85 million in the first place.