WASHINGTON _ The Trump Organization sold an ocean-view property in the Dominican Republic in 2015 to a mysterious shell company that appears tied to Venezuelans linked to a powerful politician now under U.S. sanctions, according to records obtained by McClatchy and the Miami Herald.
The Venezuelans are close associates of Diosdado Cabello Rondon, widely believed to be the second most powerful man in President Nicolas Maduro's regime in the troubled, oil-rich South American nation. The Trump administration has accused Cabello of drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Dominican property sold in April 2015, two months before Donald Trump announced he was running for president. While the amount of the sale isn't known, the future president declared in his May 2016 financial disclosure that the Trump entity that controlled the property had earned $2 million in land sales in 2015. Earlier promotional materials from 2014 showed an asking price of $3.5 million for the property.
