Between 1998 and 2003, the Trump Organization rented office space to an Iranian bank that was later linked to a terrorist organization by U.S. officials, according to a report published Monday morning by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI).
When Trump purchased the General Motors Building in Manhattan, he inherited Bank Melli as a tenant, according to documents reviewed by ICIJ and CPI. The U.S. then designated Bank Melli as a Iranian state-controlled bank in 1999. Bank Melli’s rent to Trump may have been over half a million dollars per year, according to court documents obtained by ICIJ and CPI.
U.S. officials in 2007 alleged that Bank Melli was used for Iran to obtain sensitive materials for its nuclear program and that the bank was used from 2002 and 2006 to funnel money to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which has sponsored terrorist acts, according to the ICIJ/CPI report.
It’s not clear that the Trump Organization did anything illegal, according to ICIJ and CPI. The U.S. did not allow American companies to do business with Iranian entities. But some Iranian groups were granted exemptions from the sanctions, and the Treasury Department does not disclose which groups are granted a license to carry out transactions in the U.S., according to the ICIJ/CPI report.
Read the full report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Center for Public Integrity here.
