Trump dreamed of his name atop towers across area

NEW YORK — Weeks before his inauguration, Donald Trump was allied with a company in the former Soviet republic of Georgia that planned to build a 47-story luxury tower in the Black Sea resort of Batumi.

The tower, rejected in early January, was to bear Trump’s name — in exchange for which he would receive royalties, as he does from similar arrangements around the world.

But the company, Silk Road Group, had business ties and relationships that could have been problematic for a sitting U.S. president. Over the years, it had oil trading and transport deals with companies in Russia and Iran, countries currently facing varying degrees of U.S. and European financial sanctions.

None of this is revealed in Trump’s financial disclosure statements.

The Trump Organization’s push into Georgia offers a made-to-order example of how little is publicly known about its foreign commitments. both past and present, and the sometimes conflicted activities of overseas associates.

An investigation reveals that Trump ventured more aggressively into the former Soviet empire from 2005 to 2015 than has previously been known, even seeking to have his name atop a massive glass tower in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

In 2012, Trump sought to trademark his name for use in hotels and real estate in Armenia, Belarus, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.