Trump Organisation reportedly considered giving Putin $50m Moscow penthouse

Donald Trump’s company discussed a plan to give a $50 million penthouse in its new luxury Moscow development to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to several sources quoted by Buzzfeed News.

Two law enforcement officials told the website that the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, discussed the idea with Mr Putin’s press secretary.

Details emerged on the day that Mr Cohen confessed that he lied about a Moscow real estate deal being pursued during the campaign.

Mr Trump said repeatedly during his White House run that he had no business dealings with Russia, but Mr Cohen’s plea deal reveals that the Trump Tower Moscow project was being pursued up until June 2016.

The allegations will intensify questions about Mr Trump’s financial ties to a hostile power that tried to influence the outcome of the election, just as Robert Mueller, the special counsel, is reaching a critical time in his Russia investigation.

Felix Sater claimed the idea to give away an apartment was his

The real estate proposal envisaged a luxury 100-storey building in the Russian capital but eventually came to nothing.

Buzzfeed News says it was not clear whether Mr Trump knew of the plan to give an apartment to Mr Putin and that the Trump Organisation declined to comment.

However, Felix Sater, Mr Cohen’s business associate, told the site that the plan was seen as a way of enticing other wealthy individuals to buy property in the development.

“In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,” Mr Sater told BuzzFeed News.

“My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.”

Michael CohenCredit:
Craig Ruttle/AP

Mr Sater added that he came up with the idea.

Building a tower in Russia was a long-standing ambition of the Trump Organisation and Mr Sater said he saw a chance to revive the idea when Mr Trump declared his candidacy in 2015.

“Lets make this happen and build a Trump Moscow," reads a letter of intent he sent to Mr Trump in October 25. “And possibly fix relations between the countries by showing everyone that commerce & business are much better and more practical than politics.”