Giorgi Rtskhiladze
Giorgi Rtskhiladze is an American-Georgian businessman and co-owner of the subsidiary "Silk Road Transatlantic Alliance" of the Silk Road Group, and was a key figure in the planned construction of Trump Towers in Georgia and in the development of Trump Tower Moscow.[1] In 2016, he exchanged a text convesation with Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, in which he claimed that he had "stopped flow of tapes from Russia", a reference to the alledged recordings of the 'Golden showers' allegation of the Trump-Russia dossier, but which Rtskhiladze later deemed inexistent.[2][3] These events were scrutinized by the Special Counsel investigation in the context of the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Early life and family[edit]
Rtskhiladze was born in Georgia, and spent most of his early life between Tbilisi and Moscow.[4] In 1989, he served as a soldier in the Soviet Army.[1]
He is married to former Kazakhstani actress Ayanat Ksenbai, whom he met shortly after her arrival in New York in 2007, and has one child named Sandro.[5][6]
Career[edit]
In 1991, then aged 22, Rtskhiladze moved to New York to start a musical career under the nickname of "King George".[4] Because Rtskhiladze's musical career in New York did not take off following the release of his first album, he went on to export Procter & Gamble products and Philip Morris cigarettes into his home country, as well as CompUSA products to Moscow.[4]
Role in development of Trump Towers in Georgia[edit]
In 2009, Rtskhiladze invited Ivana Trump, ex-wife of Donald Trump, to the coastal city of Batumi in Georgia to explore business opportunities, and meeting with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili in the process.[7] Rtskhiladze had met Ivana Trump through mutual friends.[8] The project reportedly originated due to the friendly relationship between Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen and Rtskhiladze, with Cohen visiting the country for three days in 2010.[5][7] In March 2011, Rtskhiladze, together with the head of the Silk Road Group Giorgi Ramishvili and President Saakashvili finalized a licensing deal at Trump Tower in Manhattan with Donald Trump regarding the construction of two towers: Trump Tower Tbilisi on the Rose Revolution Square of Tbilisi and Trump Tower Riviera in Batumi.[9] During the occasion, Cohen recalled his trip and declared that he had travelled to the country on behalf of Trump "at the request of a dear friend of mine from Georgia, Giorgi Rtskhiladze".[10] The towers were originally to be built by 2013,[11] but no construction had begun by 2016.[12] After the 2016 United States presidential election, Trump lawyer Alan Garten declared that the developers in Georgia had failed to meet the terms of licensing deals, a claim which Rtskhiladze refuted.[13] Nevertheless, the Trump Organization and Rtskhiladze's Silk Road Group decided to end the development of Trump Tower Batumi in 2017 due to concerns with the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution.[13][14]
In August 2017, Rtskhiladze mentioned that he and Ramishvili were aiming to build a tower in Batumi, this time only vaguely associating it with the Trump brand, calling it T Tower.[15] According to him, licensing for the tower could be done after Trump was out of office, or a replacement such as Ivana Trump could be used for naming purposes.
Alledged Russian tapes[edit]
The text messages first published in the Mueller Report and reported on by Bloomberg News,[3] are as follows:
Rtskhiladze: ″Stopped flow of some tapes from Russia but not sure if there's anything else. Just so u know..." Cohen: "Tapes of what?″
Rtskhiladze: "Not sure of the content but person in Moscow had tales from Russia trip."
Rtskhiladze: "Will try to dial you tomorrow but wanted to be aware"
Rtskhiladze: "I'm sure it's not a big deal but there are lots of stupid people"
Cohen: "You have no idea."
Rtskhiladze: “I do trust me.”
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Davidson, Adam (14 August 2017). "Trump's Business of Corruption". Newyorker.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ↑ "Here's What The Mueller Report Says About The Alleged Pee Tape". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Baker, Stephanie (24 April 2019). "Georgian Businessman Offers More Texts With Cohen to Rebut Mueller Footnote". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Alexander, Dan (August 1, 2017). "Exclusive Investigation: Inside The Wild Plan To Create A Fake Trump Tower". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hall, Kevin G.; Wieder, Ben (June 28, 2017). "Trump dreamed of his name on towers across former Soviet Union". mcclatchydc. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Deyneko, Yelena (2016-06-07). "Ayanat Ksenbai - life is full, and getting fuller. Interview for Spirit & Flesh Magazine". Spirit And Flesh Magazine. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Baker, Stephanie; Bedwell, Helena (2016-12-09). "Trump's Doomed Black Sea Tower Might Happen After All". Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Alexander, Dan. "Trump Says He Can't Have Conflicts of Interest. Former Business Partner Says Otherwise". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Bagli, Charles V.; Kramer, Andrew E. (2011-03-10). "Trump Signs Deal to Develop Two Towers in Georgia, the Republic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Ilya Marritz, Andrea Bernstein (2018-04-18). "The Company Michael Cohen Kept — "Trump, Inc." Podcast". ProPublica. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Nino Edilashvili (04.20.2012). "Georgia prepares for Donald Trump". old.georgiatoday.ge. Retrieved 2019-05-21. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Alexander, Dan. "Trump Says He Can't Have Conflicts of Interest. Former Business Partner Says Otherwise". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Alexander, Dan. "Trump Says He Can't Have Conflicts of Interest. Former Business Partner Says Otherwise". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ "Joint Statement by the Trump Organization and Silk Road Group". Silk Road Group. 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ↑ Alexander, Dan. "Exclusive Investigation: Inside The Wild Plan To Create A Fake Trump Tower". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
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