Welcome to the Checks & Imbalances newsletter. Today we look at a former Park Avenue condo of Donald Trump’s that is back on the market, Trump’s continued self-dealing and how lobbyists are trying to influence crypto regulation.
A business executive who paid Donald Trump $14 million for a Park Avenue condo during the 2016 presidential campaign is now trying to sell the unit for a $2.5 million loss.
In January 2016, Trump Park Avenue LLC sold a unit on the building’s 27th floor for $14.05 million, according to a filing with the New York City register’s office. Trump’s financial disclosure for that year reveals that, via two other companies, he owned 99.9% of Trump Park Avenue LLC.
The buyers were Robert and Meryl Tillis. Campaign-finance records show that a Robert Tillis with the same Park Avenue address as the condo building is the CEO of Imperial Dade, a distributor of packaging and janitorial supplies.
Robert Tillis wasn’t a Trump donor at the time of the sale. Six months after buying the apartment, however, he donated $2,000 to support Trump’s campaign, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
In June 2021, the Tillises put their condo on the market, asking for $15 million, 6.6% more than what they paid for it. A year and three price cuts later, the condo remains for sale, now with an asking price of $11.5 million—$2.5 million less than what they paid Trump for it.
Robert Tillis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pedestrians pass the Trump Park Avenue building in May 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
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“When it comes to peculiar characters, 2020 election edition, few people had this guy on their bingo card: The former chief executive of online furniture retailer Overstock, Patrick Byrne,” reports Lauren Debter:
Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne returns from a break in his interview with the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot in July 2022. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Depositions that were set to begin Friday of former President Donald Trump and his two oldest adult children as part of a civil investigation by the New York state attorney general into potential financial fraud by the Trump Organization have been postponed following the death of Ivana Trump,” reports Nicholas Reimann:
Donald Trump and wife Ivana Trump with actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith attend a Police Athletic League event for Commisioner Benjamin Ward’s Kids in 1989 in New York. (Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“Last month, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand unveiled their long-anticipated, bipartisan legislative proposal to build a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin,” reports Avik Roy and The Apothecary:
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, speak during the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, D.C., in May 2022. (Valerie Pleasch/Bloomberg)
Forbes continues to update “Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President.” The latest update includes changes to more than 25 cases and investigations.
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In December 2020, Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dined at Trump’s hotel in D.C. with Ivan Raiklin, a Green Beret who unsuccessfully tried to run for Senate in 2018. They discussed trying to overturn the election results. The following day, Raiklin published a memo explaining how Vice President Mike Pence could throw the election in Trump’s favor. Trump retweeted the memo, as the Jan. 6 committee noted in a public hearing last month.
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Donald Trump’s campaign sent a fundraising email pegged to the death of his first wife, Ivana, tweets Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.
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– Ella Fitzgerald, “Slumming on Park Avenue”
