In Manhattan, New York City, Trump Tower is the home of the former President of the United States. But the colossus could escape its owner, because the latter has many matters to settle with the law.
At 725, 5th avenue, in the Manhattan district of New York City, a very intimidating building does not go unnoticed. The five letters screwed onto its facade leave no doubt as to the name of its owner. If the latter is still a resident of Trump Tower, this should not last much longer. Donald Trump, the country’s former president, risks losing his beloved building. Indeed, he faces 91 charges and is the center of four criminal cases before the courts. His Trump Tower could be confiscated.
Beyond the numerous legal cases in which he is involved, it is an accusation from New York prosecutor Letitia James which risks losing the Trump Tower to its owner. She revealed that Donald Trump and his collaborators allegedly faked a fortune of more than $2 billion to obtain bank loans and rebates from insurers. Only one lawsuit still links him to the tower, whose escalator he praises as “the best known in the world”.
It was 40 years ago, give or take a few days, that Trump Tower opened its doors. 58 stories high, it was originally called Bonwit Teller, one of the most beautiful buildings in New York. But when Donald Trump bought the building, he launched a whole series of works there. And despite the agreement made with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to recover the building’s Art Deco bas-reliefs, on which dance scenes were depicted, the tycoon still demolished the entire building, as if his agreement with the New York museum did not exist.
A tower marked by the eccentricity of its owner
John Baron, spokesperson for the billionaire, claimed that “independent experts” had judged that “the bas-reliefs in question had no artistic value,” relayed the New York Times in June 1980. However, journalists from daily revealed that this John Baron had never existed and that it was a pseudonym used by Donald Trump. “No one was interested in these bas-reliefs before I blew them up,” explains the businessman each time this affair is brought up again in the media.
The former president of the United States’ only obsession was that his tower be the tallest in the neighborhood. If the architect Der Scutt had told the billionaire that it was not possible, the central character of the reality TV show “The Apprentice” found a strategy to achieve his goal. He listed the first residential floor of the building as the “30th floor”, on the elevators, but also in his mind. The top floor therefore became the 68th floor, while the Trump Tower really only has 58…
Steven Spielberg, Hillary Clinton, Michael Jackson, Bruce Willis… Many personalities have been residents of Trump Tower, according to its owner. Shortly before the opening, Donald Trump even claimed that Lady Diana and Prince Charles had an apartment in the building… Which the royal couple was quick to deny. “The sale that never happened was the one that helped Trump Tower the most,” the billionaire said in his book “The Art of the Deal,” published in 1987.
The deserted Trump Tower
As the years have gone by, the supposed global stars have been ousted by crooks and criminals. Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier bought an apartment there in 1986, paying with public money.
Helicopter company executive Joseph Weichselbaum was given an opportunity to get an apartment in Trump Tower after being accused of drug trafficking. During his friend’s trial, Donald Trump even wrote to the judge attesting to the integrity of the owner of the helicopter company, without success. Upon his release from prison, Joseph Weichselbaum still moved into the controversial building.
Since 2015, Trump Tower has been abandoned. The personalities have fled and the luxury boutiques have disappeared. Only the official store of the former President of the United States remains. Red caps marked with the slogan “Make America Great Again” litter the building’s windows, in addition to t-shirts printed with the billionaire’s mugshot. In true nostalgia, the establishment resembles an old man who refuses to let go of his past.
2023-10-27 16:55:26
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