Too small. Reporter now that sense of ownership is gone. The Trump Organization which no longer runs the building says it had no hand in vetting the people who financed, sold or bought it. Now that President Trump is in the white house. Uhhuh. Reporter do you think the Trump Organization and the trump family are trying to distance themselves from you . I wouldnt say that theyre trying, because i dont think that i can harm them. Reporter it took months to track Alexander Ventura down and persuade limb to shim to sit wi interview. He asked we disguise his appearance, hes on the run in panama wanted for fraud saying he sold hundreds of United Nations in the trump club to hide their identities. Banks werent asking questions where the money was coming from . No. Never. Reporter sounds like nobody was asking questions. Not you, not the Trump Organization, not the banks, not the developers . Nobody. Nobody. Reporte nobody checked anybody out. People were buying, Spending Millions 5, 10, 20 un
no. reporter: were these buyers planning on living in these units, in these apartments? most of them, no. reporter: that never raised alarm bells with you? somebody buying 15 units, doesn t want to live in the place, from from russia? no. because that was normal. they had laundry money, that s their problem. reporter: and it wasn t just russians. one of the most famous money launderers in the world, davide guzman bought units in the building too. we met a former panamanian prosecutor who worked on the guzman case. [ speaking in foreign language ] translator: the guzman investigation was a vast case and as part of it we had information that alexandr ventura was the partner. reporter: we heard the same thing from freezener. guzman and ventura. reporter: was their relationship between both business partners. they became, after a couple years business partners. reporter: how did they work together? how did that collaboration work?
when both key witnesses disappeared. the firms representative in kiev later found by a ukrainian court guilty of people smuggling. one of the customers who bought units in the building was an ex-convict who served time in israel for kidnapping and those are just the ones we managed to identify. claiming he didn t know it at the time, ventura admits he was selling places in the building to russian customers. i can some customers with questionable background. reporter: what does that mean? i mean you know, i fund out later. not in the beginning from like belongs to mafia. russian mafia, things like that. but, anyway, i was not getting paid in cash. reporter: that is not the story we heard from freezener. they used half a dozen lawyers, would come pick up $1 million in a satchel. reporter: happening at the trump ocean club? yeah. reporter: so ventura was
nobody. nobody. reporte nobody checked anybody out. people were buying, spending millions 5, 10, 20 units at a time. the money would go to ventura. reporter: if you want to know about the flow of dirty money through panama, monty freezener is the man to ask. in 1992, he was convicted in federal court of 20 counts of money laundering and fraud. he still knows all the players and all the plays. do you think it s possible trump didn t know the kind of people buying in his building? he didn t know. reporter: how could he not have known? because you don t walk up to somebody, hey, are you russian mafia? reporter: is it fair to say trump didn t ask because he didn t want to know. would you want to know? reporter: i would want to know who s buying a building with my name on it. because it s you. most, no. they don t care. reporter: a team from global witness, an anti-corruption watchdog often critic al of businesses and their connections to government officials s
identities. the banks weren t asking where the money was coming from? no. never. reporter: sounds like nobody was asking questions. nobody, no. reporter: not you. not the trump organization. not the bank. not the developers. nobody checked anybody out. reporter: people were spending millions for apartments they were buying five, ten, 10 units at a time. the money would go to ventura. reporter: if you want to know about the flow of dirty money through panama, monty freezener is the man to ask. he was convicted in federal court of 20 counts of money laundering and fraud. he still knows all the players. and all the plays. do you think it s possible trump didn t know the kind of people he didn t know. reporter: how could he not have known? because you don t walk up to somebody, are you russian mafia. reporter: trump didn t ask because he didn t want to know?