Kleptocrats' 'Ill-Gotten Fortunes' Are Being Parked In U.S. Real Estate
Atlantic journalist Franklin Foer says American real estate became a “giant magnet” for Russia’s kleptocratic fortunes after lobbyists pushed to allow anonymous shell companies to buy properties.
FOER: So in 2017, Reuters did this survey of Trump Organization properties in Florida. And what they found was that of the about 2,000 units in those developments, a third of the units in his properties were sold to anonymous corporate vehicles where we’re unable to trace who actually owns the property.
GROSS: So there might be Russians in those properties.
FOER: Yeah. There’s a journalist who jokes Vladimir Putin could own those properties, and we wouldn’t know.