Baja Bust
by digby
Here’s Trump’s latest:
After people pointed out that the Star of David was a bad choice they changed it to a circle.
The Baja resort was supposed to cover 17 acres of oceanfront property on bluffs 10 miles south of the U.S. border. The 525 condos cost $275,000 to $3 million; Simms’ was $506,900. Buyers were required to make a 30% deposit in several installments.
As the Trumps and their partners promoted the condos with sleek brochures and what they called “VIP” cocktail receptions in San Diego County, they often left the impression — or said outright — that Trump was one of the developers. Their marketing team determined that the Trump name was the No. 1 draw for buyers, according to documents that surfaced in the lawsuit.
“We are developing a world-class resort befitting of the Trump brand,” Ivanka Trump said in a video on the Trump Baja website. “I’m very excited about it. I actually chose to buy a unit in the first tower.”
Her father appeared in the same video saying he was proud “that when I build, I have investors that follow me all over.”
“They invest in what I build, and that’s why I’m so excited about Trump Ocean resort,” he said.
Simms, in a video appearance she now regrets, was also shown praising Trump’s “wonderful reputation” at a VIP reception hosted by Ivanka Trump at L’Auberge Hotel in Del Mar. “The Trump name is synonymous with quality,” Simms said in the video.
Simms, 50, and Sapol, who went to the same party with her husband, Jeff, remembered meeting Ivanka Trump as waiters served canapés.
“She was joking around that she was my upstairs neighbor, and she could borrow sugar from me,” Simms recalled.
A few weeks later, Donald Trump Jr. met potential buyers at a similar event at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego. A Trump Baja newsletter, sent by the sales team to those who put down deposits, reported that he “flew in from New York to purchase a suite at the event and meet with fellow buyers.”
In fact, according to court documents, Trump Jr. did not buy a condo at the Baja resort.
Garten, the Trump counsel, did not respond directly when asked by email why condo buyers were told that Trump Jr. had bought a unit. In general, Garten said, allegations in the lawsuit “were never proven.”
A July 2007 newsletter sent to condo buyers also stated that the resort was being “developed by one of the most respected names in real estate, Donald J. Trump.”
Further buttressing buyers’ belief that Trump was one of the developers, not just a brand name, Trump personally signed an August 2007 letter to condo buyers that identified him as exactly that. It was on the letterhead of P.B. Impulsores, the Mexican company named in unit purchase documents as the resort developer.
The letter, co-signed by Jason Grosfeld of Irongate, urged buyers to read an attached “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet about the project. This time, Trump and Irongate were listed as the developers.
There’s much more at the link. He did this scam in Florida too.
My father lived in Baja California, down the road a few miles from where this project was supposed to be built. There is no doubt that people believed it was being built by Trump. Everyone in the neighborhood assumed this meant their property values were about to go through the roof because Trump was involved.
And, by the way, the Trump kids everyone says are such lovely wonderful people? It looks like they’re in on the con.