SHADY: Why was the FBI at a Russian-owned Florida Trump Tower condo?
Another Trump-branded property has been searched by the FBI.
Specifically, the search was executed on a condo owned by a company held by a pair of Russian businessmen, Oleg Sergeyevich Patsulya and Agunda Konstantinovna Makeeva. At this time, neither the businessmen nor federal investigators are sharing details about what was being sought.
The Miami Field Office of the FBI was only willing to say that it was “conducting court-ordered law enforcement activity.”
Whether the individuals involved have any tie to U.S. politics — or to any current or former political figures — is not yet clear.
Trump Towers, on Sunny Isles Beach, bears the name of the infamous businessman and former president through a licensing agreement, rather than through ownership. The Miami Herald reported:
“Sunny Isles Beach has been dubbed “Little Moscow” by locals because it’s home to many Russian expatriates. Some expressed concerns about a backlash against their affluent beachfront community after the Russian military invaded Ukraine last year and the U.S. government started pursuing sanctions against oligarchs who hide their wealth in real estate in South Florida and other parts of the country.”
As for the company that is listed as the owner of the condo — MIC-P&I, LLC — it was incorporated in August 2015, just two months after Trump first announced his presidential bid, according to Florida Company Directory, which lists the aforementioned Patsulya as the registering agent.
The shell company’s operations are less clear — a bare-bones website boasts “power & innovation,” but consists otherwise only of a non-functioning contact form, a phone number that goes unanswered, and an email address that did not respond before publication time.
The most obvious speculation is the possibility that the raid could relate to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the Heraldnoted, but at this time there is nothing but conjecture.
Of course, Trump’s longstanding ties to Russia are invoked by the proximity of his name, but there’s no specific clear connection at this time.
Roza Pereira, the wife of Patsulya, did respond to a journalist, only to say that her husband has hired an attorney, that the attorney has advised her not to speak publicly about the incident, and that she does not know what the FBI sought in its raid.
