Tom Barrack
Net worth: $1 Billion (ABC News)
- Tom Barrack is the founder of real estate and private equity firm Colony Capital (now known as Digital Bridge), which he helmed for 30 years. Colony Capital has been criticized by some as a vehicle for Barrack to enrich himself personally while generating mixed or disappointing returns for investors. Barrack stepped down from the firm, which transitioned its brand to Digital Bridge, when he was arrested on federal charges of “illegally lobbying…on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.”
- Barrack used the firm to buy Neverland, Michael Jackson’s property, and allow Jackson to continue living there in, during the 2008 mortgage crisis.
- In 2020, Colony “defaulted on $3.2 billion in debt backed by hotel and health care properties, according to the Financial Times.”
- Barrack has supplemented his fortune by profiting off of the Great Recession of 2008-09, and the housing crisis that left many people without homes and in need of rentals on short notice. Barrack built a rental empire called Colony Starwood Homes, boasting about his ability to buy properties that had been foreclosed on, cheaply renovate them, and rent them for a profit, while facing widespread charges of leaving properties in dangerous and at times uninhabitable conditions for renters with nowhere else to turn.
- Barrack is a longtime business associate and personal friend of Donald Trump’s. Barrack made a name for himself by brokering Trump’s $400 million dollar purchase of the Plaza Hotel in 1988, and the two remained connected thereafter.
- Barrack was a senior advisor during Trump’s first campaign, and chaired Trump’s 2016 inaugural committee.
- Barrack raised $107 million for Trump’s inauguration fund. This fund, and Barrack’s handling of it, came under scrutiny when he was investigated for offering foreign actors access to Trump.
- July 2021: Barrack was charged with “acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Justice Department, a violation that carries up to 10 years in prison. In addition, he was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI about his UAE contacts during a 2019 interview with federal agents.”
- White Barrack was under investigation, Trump sought to distance himself from Barrack, publicly expressing concerns over Barrack’s handling of the inauguration fund.
- November 2022: Barrack was acquitted of all charges.
- December 2024: Trump nominated Barrack to be the US Ambassador to Turkey, citing his experience managing a global private equity firm as a qualification.
- December 2024: Trump nominated Barrack to be the US Ambassador to Turkey, citing his experience managing a global private equity firm as a qualification.
For more information, see the Revolving Door Project’s Billionaires in Trump World tracker.