97JUNE 30, 20 19 FORBES.COMPA
VE
L^ G
OL
OV
KIN
/^ A
P;^
JO
NA
TH
AN
ER
NS
T^ /
RE
UT
ER
S^ (
L)
TH
E(^) T
R
U
T
H
(^) B
E
H
IN
D
(^) T
R
U
M
P
TO
W
E
R
(^) M
O
SC
O
W
so in annual fees, if everything went according to
plan. In the rosiest of scenarios, Sater says,
Trump could have gotten about $50 million. A lot
of money to most people but less than 2% of the
president’s net worth (estimated at $3.1 billion).
Taken together, these revelations paint a new
picture of Trump’s plans in Russia and the
president’s way of doing business. His deal came
with far greater risk—and far less reward—than
previously understood. In short, candidate Trump
jeopardized his eventual presidency on a
middling deal and one that would have had
Vladimir Putin’s fingerprints all over it.
art of the reason the Trump
Tower Moscow narrative confuses
people: There were three
different attempts to attach the
president’s name to a Russian
property in recent years. The first one emanates
from the infamous 2013 Miss Universe contest,
where 86 women strutted through a Moscow
concert hall. Donald Trump, the co-owner of the
pageant, took home the money, collecting an
estimated $3 million from the local hosts:
billionaire real estate tycoon Aras Agalarov and
his son Emin, a pop singer. “I had a great
weekend with you and your family,” Trump
tweeted afterward, tagging the elder Agalarov.
“You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP
P
2013 Miss Universe
Pageant:
Miss Venezuela took
home the crown, but
Donald Trump took
home the money,
collecting an
estimated $3 million
for bringing the
pageant to Russia.
TOWER-MOSCOW is next.”
One month later, in December 2013, the
Trump Organization signed an agreement to
brand an Agalarov property in Moscow,
according to the Mueller report. The plan
eventually called for 800 apartments near the
concert venue that hosted the Miss Universe
event, with 3.5% of sales going to Trump. If the
whole building sold out, Emin Agalarov
estimates Trump would have come away with
$17 million or so.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka toured the site in
February 2014. That same month, though, the
geopolitical landscape was shifting. Crowds were
in the streets of Kiev, protesting Ukraine’s
Russia-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych. He
ultimately fled Ukraine, reportedly with the help
of Putin. Within weeks, Putin sent soldiers into
Crimea, a Ukrainian region neighboring Russia,
effectively taking over. The landgrab sparked
outrage in the international community, and the
United States retaliated with economic sanctions.
Those measures, combined with falling oil
prices, crippled the Russian economy—including
the Moscow real estate market. The average price
of new apartments plummeted an estimated 30%
in 2014. Condos were selling for less than the cost
of construction. Even in the unlikely event that
the Agalarovs managed to build something amid
all the turmoil, Emin Agalarov tells Forbes that