Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-254) and index.

Early affiliations. The world's most talked about address ; Mafiya Taj Mahal ; A millionaire without a dollar ; Post-Soviet payouts -- The comeback kid. Little Moscow ; Building Trump Towers and hunting bin Laden ; The condo casino ; Mister Universe -- The red house. Blood money ; The dossier ; Information warfare ; The prosecutor and the president.

In the early 1990s, a famous real estate tycoon--a regular in Manhattan gossip columns and on celebrity chat shows--found his world collapsing around him. He'd secretly gone bankrupt on three multi-million-dollar projects in a row. Facing numerous lawsuits, isolated and desperate for cash, but cut off by his American banks, he turned to dark sources in another country, a country regularly under sanction by the United States: its long-time enemy, Russia. And thus commenced decades-long deal-making with a growing cobweb of corrupt, criminal, and powerful Russians ... And ending with the tycoon in the White House. Seth Hettena chronicles the many years Trump has spent wooing Russian money and power. From the collapse of his casino empire--which left Trump desperate for cash--and his first contacts with Russian deal-makers and financiers, on up to the White House, Hettena reveals the myriad of shady people, convoluted dealings, and strange events that suggest how indebted to Russia our forty-fifth president might be.