Trump’s $500m Belgrade hotel project hits legal trouble due to forged documents

A $500 million Trump family hotel project in Belgrade is facing serious legal and political hurdles after a senior Serbian official admitted to forging key documents to advance the controversial development, according to The New York Times.The proposed Trump International Hotel, the family's first in Europe, is being led by Jared Kushner’s Miami-based private equity firm, Affinity Partners. It aims to transform the bombed-out remains of the former Yugoslav ministry of defense headquarters into a luxury complex featuring a hotel, residences, and a memorial centre. The site was devastated in Nato’s 1999 air campaign during the Kosovo War and was declared a protected cultural monument in 2005.But in a dramatic twist, Goran Vasic, then-director of Serbia’s Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, has confessed to forging an official expert opinion that led to the removal of the site’s protected status. “Vasic forged a proposal for a decision to revoke the status of cultural property,” said Serbia’s Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime in a statement quoted by AFP. Authorities confirmed that the forged proposal had bypassed required conservation expert input and “caused damage to the cultural heritage of the Republic of Serbia.”The timing of the approval has raised eyebrows. The cultural protection was stripped on 14 November 2024, just days after Donald Trump won the US presidential election. While work on the project has not yet begun, the revelation now casts doubt on whether it will proceed at all.Affinity Partners responded by distancing itself from the scandal. “Today we learned from media reports that a former Serbian government official with no connection to our firm allegedly falsified documents related to the landmark designation of the Belgrade Square project,” said the company in a statement quoted by The New York Times. “We will review this matter and determine next steps.”Protests erupted in Belgrade even before Vasic’s admission, with the most recent demonstration held on 24 March, the 26th anniversary of the Nato bombing. Serbian lawmaker Dragan Jonic, a key opposition figure, claimed the forgery proves the project is a political favour and said, “This was all to make room for the Trumps,” The New York Times quoted him as saying.Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, a key supporter of the development, hosted Donald Trump Jr and Kushner in Belgrade and travelled to Florida in April to try and meet with Trump. The project agreement, signed in May 2024, grants Kushner’s group a 99-year lease on the site, not a purchase, AFP reported.The scandal adds to growing ethical concerns about the Trump family's international ventures.According to The Independent, Trump’s business dealings while in office, including a $400 million private jet from Qatar’s royal family, a $5.5 billion golf project in Qatar, and a $2 billion UAE-backed cryptocurrency exchange, have prompted allegations of foreign influence over US foreign policy. “It is extremely dangerous to have a president with far-reaching business interests around the world,” warned Richard Painter, former ethics lawyer under President George W Bush, as quoted by The New York Times.The Serbian government says an official investigation is underway. “I cannot comment on something that is currently within the jurisdiction of the prosecution,” finance minister Siniša Mali told reporters.