President Donald Trump is accused of having a conflict of interest in a Trump Tower he plans on building the capital city of a former Soviet republic.
Planned for the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, the potential Trump Tower is slated to be constructed on land currently part-owned by the son of a leader who was sanctioned by the United States, according to a Monday report by The Guardian. Specifically it is owned by the International Charity Fund Cartu, which is solely owned by Cartu Group JSC. That group is in turn mainly owned (with a 35 percent stake) by Uta Ivanishvili, the eldest son of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is honorary chair of Georgia’s ruling party and regarded as the de facto leader of the Georgian government.
While the younger Ivanishvili is not under sanctions, Trump’s willingness to do business with them constitutes a potential conflict of interest given that he is still serving as president. By contrast the White House has insisted that “neither the president nor his family” have “ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest”.
In addition to the Ivanishvili family, Trump’s business is also going into partnership with other organizations that could create conflicts of interest including the Archi Group, Biograpi Living, Blox Group and Finvest Georgia, alongside the US-based Sapir Organization. Despite the potential for conflicts of interest, there are no US sanctions against any of those other businesses.
If constructed, the new Trump Tower will be built on a plot in the capital of Tbilisi on top of an old Soviet horse-racing track known as the hippodrome.
“The ownership of only a small peripheral portion of that land has been transferred so far to Central Park Avenue LLC,” The Daily Beast reported. “Completion of the sale of the majority of the plot is due to be made on receipt of payment to Cartu of the purchase price.”
This is not Trump’s only controversy in terms of his various construction projects. He is also accused of having an ethical conflict in the construction of his planned Trump presidential library in Miami. According to Dunn’s Overtown Farm, a nonprofit farm and market in Miami co-founded by historian and psychology professor Dr. Marvin Dunn, Florida gave away valuable land to Trump for the library in a way that is allegedly “corrupt.”
“The court filing immediately cited Trump's own expressed disdain for libraries and museums as proof that ‘corruption’ is afoot, the likes of which Benjamin Franklin tried to prevent by insisting on a domestic emoluments clause in the first place,” Law and Crime’s Matt Naham reported at the time. Dunn’s Overtown Farm alleged in the lawsuit that “with its waterfront views and central location in bustling Downtown Miami, the MDC Parcel would likely sell for over $300 million on the open market, according to local real estate experts. But President Trump paid nothing for it.”
The litigation added that the president does not even "believe in building libraries or museums."

