Brazil prosecutor says Trump franchise may have benefited from corruption
Source: Reuters
28 OCT 2016 AT 09:12 ET
A Brazilian prosecutor investigating potentially corrupt investments made by state pension funds said the real estate company run by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears to have benefited suspiciously from a massive redevelopment of Rio de Janeiros port ahead of the Olympics.
The development, known as Porto Maravilha, or Marvelous Port in Portuguese, cost 8 billion reais ($2.5 billion) and developed run-down docklands into a plaza, museums, corporate and residential real estate. As part of the project, five 38-story buildings were meant to be erected under the Trump brand.
Public prosecutor Alselmo Lopes said in a court filing made public on Thursday that he is investigating the Porto Maravilha deal, in which the national employee severance fund FGTS, managed by state-bank Caixa Economica Federal [CEF.UL], paid up-front for building rights which it then sold on.
The structuring of the Porto Maravilha deal favoured, in a suspicious way, the Trump Organization economic group, among others, Lopes said. The prosecutor gave no further details and was not immediately reachable for comment.
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