Dacourt scammed by Trump SoHo: two million euros and a fraud lawsuit

French international Olivier Dacourt nearly lost over two million euros in Trump SoHo, a New York real estate project backed by Donald Trump in 2006, before obtaining a partial refund following a fraud lawsuit.

At the time, the future US president had attached his name to this 370-million-dollar hotel complex in the heart of Manhattan in exchange for 18% of the shares, after validating the project on his show The Apprentice. The developers, led by the Bayrock Group and its director Felix Sater, an adviser to the Trump Organization, then approached European footballers to raise funds. Dacourt, then nearing the end of his contract at AS Rome before joining Inter Milan, agreed to invest just over two million euros. A few months later, the subprime crisis weakened the entire project.

In November 2011, Dacourt joined a group of around thirty buyers to sue the Bayrock Group. The plaintiffs claimed that Trump SoHo’s sales figures had been “falsified” to attract investors. The investigation directly targeted Felix Sater.

Four years later, the case was settled out of court: the owners recovered 90% of their investments and obtained reimbursement of their legal fees. In return, they agreed not to cooperate with prosecutors investigating members of the Trump family.

The 2016 presidential election hastened the decline of establishments bearing the Trump name. The Trump Organization withdrew from the complex in 2017; renamed The Dominick, the hotel still stands at the exit of the Spring Street metro station, west of SoHo.

Dacourt, who turns 51 this Friday, earned 21 caps for the French national team between 2001 and 2004, winning two Confederations Cup titles (2001 and 2003).