- Corporate filing shows Barron Trump is associated with a business of Yerba Mate.
- The company was incorporated in an owned property in Palm Beach owned by a donor.
- One of the donors Jay Weitzman claims that he does not have any links.
- Advocates of ethics note that there might be the issue of conflict of interest.
The incorporations of a new drink firm affiliated with Barron Trump are being looked into as the firm was filed at a Palm Beach home owned by an established donor of President Donald Trump.
According to what the firm, Sollos Yerba Mate Inc., says Barron Trump is a 19 year director, he is registered in both Florida and Delaware. On record, the business location is a mansion close to Mar-a-Lago of Jay Weitzman who is a real estate developer.
Some of the questions raised by ethics advocates include potential conflicts, due to Weitzman having given political donations to individuals as well as his company being awarded federal contracts. No crime of any kind has been imputed.
Sollos Yerba Mate is proposing to market tinned yerba mate beverages caffeinated herbal tea which sells well in the South American market with the higher volume being sold at the health markets in the United States. Some directors have been listed with Barron Trump in the papers of the company: Spencer, Bernstein, Rodolfo, Castillo, Stephen, Hall and Valentino, Gomez.
Weitzman, the parking company manager known as Park America, which has received federal contract for a long time, claims having nothing to do with it. One of the spokesmen of Sollos Yerba Mate responded by saying that Weitzman is not related to the business.
Federal Contract and Donor Links
Campaign funds records reveal that Weitzman donated approximately 25,000 to the first inauguration of Trump and 2,700 to the Trump 2016 campaign. He claims that he has been a close associate of the president but does not attest that he has made money out of his friendship.
Weitzman said that neither he nor any member of his family had ever made money out of our relationship with the president.
The watchdogs on ethics explain that after family, donation and federal contracts touch, individuals might assume that one person is influential, although there could have been no evidence that shows that he or she did something wrong.
A democracy watchdog, Norm Eisen, who takes part in the management of the Democracy Defenders Fund and served the Obama administration as an ethics officer, claimed that the business by Barron Trump is an added avenue by which his family makes attempts to control the presidency using their various business concoctions.
Director of government affairs at non-partisan Project on Government Oversight, Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette described the situation as fishy in his perspective of government ethics.
The mere appearance of impropriety and potential pay-to-play corruption at the least risky to a company awarded federal contracts to the principled recipients of which the president is also a major donor and personal acquaintance, Hedtler-Gaudette said.
He also mentioned that this type of thing is not new to Washington but it is being more open and common in the Second Trump administration.
Corporate Hierarchy and individual Relations
Spencer Bernstein is a director in the company papers. It is registered that he stays in Palace Beach at the address. It is also reported to be the grandson of Weitzman.
Bernstein and Stephen Hall have been considered to have attended Oxbridge Academy alongside Barron Trump further personalizing the leaders.
The filings just indicate that the company intends to sell the yerba mate beverages. The federal contracts or government dealings of Sollos Yerba Mate have not been mentioned.
According to legal experts, it is always common to use a home address as a new business. However, when speaking by a person with a political tie, people will see the addresses more carefully.
Both Barron Trump and the representatives of Donald Trump have not made any statement regarding the structure of the business publicly.
The review occurs as the country struggles to determine whether politicians can be able to distinguish between private business and government office. The rules of ethics applied to presidents do not apply to their family members because they are not subject to the same laws regarding conflict of interests as the rest of the government officials.
There is as yet no evidence that Sollos Yerba Mate has secured a government contract, or even that federal decisions had been influenced by the formation of the company. According to ethics groups, the problem depicts how there is a continued dilemma between personal business and the political office when it comes to families involved in politics.
