In January, in response to calls for him to divest his real estate empire, Trump attorney Sheri Dillon said that selling all his holdings could actually “exacerbate” possible conflicts of interest.
“Whatever price was paid would be subject to criticism and scrutiny,” Dillon said at a news conference. “‘Was it too high, is there pay-for-play, was it too much pay to curry favor with the president-elect?’”
Dillon declined to comment for this story.
To navigate potential conflicts, Trump tapped Republican lawyer Bobby Burchfield to serve as his outside ethics adviser. He also named George Sorial, a longtime Trump Organization executive, to serve as chief compliance officer.
It is unknown what limits, if any, they have put on the St. Martin sale. Burchfield declined to comment, referring calls to the Trump Organization officials, who did not respond to a list of detailed questions on the matter.
Don Fox, a former general counsel and acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, said if he were advising Trump, he would suggest that he take the estate off the market.
“Mr. President, why the urgency to sell this property?” Fox said. “Why not hang on to it, continue to collect rent, and then at then end of the term, sell it to whoever you want for whatever price you can get? It takes the issue out of play.”
Trump’s 2013 purchase of the estate was a byproduct of a bitter legal fight between Hilbert and another business titan.
Trump had been a regular guest at Chateau des Palmiers when it was owned by Hilbert, who headed the Indiana-based insurance company Conseco, according to court documents and the property’s website at the time. In 1998, the two joined forces to purchase the General Motors Building on New York’s Fifth Avenue and soon were vacationing together in St. Martin and other locales.