Trump Once Accepted Payment In Gold Bars, New Book Reveals

Former President Donald Trump was once paid with gold bars, according to a new excerpt of an upcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

The book describes details about Trump’s business in New York, where he developed – and destroyed – a real estate empire, including how he interacted with the mob.

Trump would occasionally receive lease payments in cash.

On one of these occasions, Haberman writes, a leaseholder sent Trump a box of dozens of gold bricks. The unusual package was first delivered to the General Motors building in Manhattan, which Trump owned.

Ultimately, Matt Calamari, a onetime security guard who became a chief operating officer in the Trump Organization, wheeled the bars up to his apartment at Trump Tower.

According to CNN, a lawyer for Calamari declined to comment, and Haberman writes that Trump called it “a fantasy question.”

Trump sat for three interviews for the book.

The book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, is set to be  released on October 4, as former president’s business are under scrutiny.

Last week, the New York state attorney general filed a lawsuit against Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization. According to the AG’s lawsuit, the Trump Organization inflated the value of properties to deceive lenders, insurers and tax authorities.