Trump’s Financial Disclosure Form Shows Israeli Potato Vodka Company
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By Aiden Pink June 16, 2017
President Trump’s financial disclosure form, released on Friday by the Office of Government Ethics, contained information about a series of Trump-owned companies that distribute kosher-for-Passover vodka for the Israeli market.
The 98-page form states that Trump Drinks Israel LLC and Trump Drinks Israel Member Corp are inactive, though the form also noted that Trump served as a president of both entities until the day before he was inaugurated.
Trump’s American vodka business was largely seen as a failure and was discontinued in 2011, but found a second life in Israel later that year after selling licensing rights for Trump-branded vodka and energy drinks to an Israeli firm.
Trump vodka is made from potatoes, making it kosher for Passover and therefore a hot item for religious Jews during the spring holiday. But an Israeli shopkeeper told the Times of Israel last year that they “don’t really keep it the rest of the year because it doesn’t sell that well.”
The disclosure form, which lists income through April 15, reported $37.2 million in income from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where the president frequently goes on weekends. That is $7.4 million higher than last year’s figures, CNN reported.
Trump has been criticized by ethics experts for refusing to outright sell his assets, instead placing them in a trust and receiving periodic reports on his businesses from his sons.
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter @aidenpink.
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