In brief
The luxury hotel project faces setbacks after officials admit to falsifications regarding the site's demolition approval.
The Trump family's anticipated $500 million luxury hotel project in Serbia has encountered serious complications as Serbian authorities confirmed that a key document central to the deal was forged. The site in question is the long-vacant Defense Ministry building in Belgrade, which is poised to be transformed into the first Trump International Hotel in Europe.According to a statement from Serbian officials, Goran Vasic, the head of the agency responsible for protecting cultural monuments, admitted to forging a document that had permitted the demolition of the site. This decision came after the Serbian government provisionally authorized the project last year, even before officially revoking the cultural heritage designation of the site, which suffered significant damage in the 1999 NATO bombing.The Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime has reported that Vasic fabricated an expert opinion that undermined the site's protected status, declaring, “Vasic forged a proposal for a decision to revoke the status of cultural property.” This revelation threatens to derail the ambitious plan spearheaded by Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and his business partners, who were banking on transforming the vacated site into a luxury residential and commercial hub.
