Trump Violated Embargo Against Cuba

It is hard to keep up with the ongoing scandals that keep emerging on a daily or even hourly basis for the Trump campaign. And that’s not even including Trump’s misogynist attacks on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Yesterday, Newsweek has reported that Trump violated the embargo against Cuba back in 1998. According to the article by Kurt Eichenwald, “Documents show that the Trump company spent a minimum of $68,000 for its 1998 foray into Cuba at a time when the corporate expenditure of even a penny in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval. But the company did not spend the money directly. Instead, with Trump’s knowledge, executives funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corp. Once the business consultants traveled to the island and incurred the expenses for the venture, Seven Arrows instructed senior officers with Trump’s company—then called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts—how to make it appear legal by linking it after the fact to a charitable effort”. Back in 1998, Trump Hotels’ stock had fallen off a cliff, losing 80% of its value from its highs. But, at the same time, there was pressure on President Clinton to lift the embargo on Cuba. That is why Trump was exploring opening a hotel and casino in Cuba and used Seven Arrows to investigate that possibility. But even that kind of exploratory trip violated the Cuban embargo. On the other hand, charity efforts were legal. Seven Arrows recognized the illegality of what was being done and when they billed over $68,000 in expenses to Trump, they told his to use the Caritas Cuba charity in order to hide what was going on. Trump campaign manager Kellyann Conway seemed to confirm the story by saying, “I think they paid money, as I understand from the story, they paid money in 1998…And then it turns out he decided not to invest there”. Unfortunately, the law clearly did not allow even the exploratory trip, much less any investment. This is not going to go over well with Cuban-Americans, the one group of Hispanics that actually supports him. And in the critical swing state of Florida, the loss of that support could be decisive.