黑洞社区

Every day when he walks to the office, Andrew Tesoro is reminded about his ultimately ill-fated encounter with Donald Trump.

Tesoro鈥檚 architecture practice is located in Columbus Circus by Manhattan鈥檚 Central Park. It鈥檚 also just across the road from the Trump Hotel, just one of the high profile buildings dotting Manhattan that bear the Republican candidate鈥檚 name.

He first encountered Trump via a word of mouth recommendation from one of the tradesmen that the billionaire was already working with in Westchester, where the real estate mogul was redeveloping a clubhouse as part of plans to create one of his branded golf centres.

Tesoro was hired to rework another architect鈥檚 sketches into a style more suited to the Westchester vernacular.

At first things went swimmingly on the project as Tesoro鈥檚 images found favour with Trump. 鈥淲e started on the task cheerfully. His demeanour was always complimentary and flattering.鈥�

As the project went on, it mushroomed in size. What was originally a more or less like-for-like replacement of the existing clubhouse with a few extra facilities, had tripled in size by the time construction had started.

The relationship, however, became unstuck towards the end of the project when Tesoro remembers his client became 鈥渧ery impatient鈥� as the job went behind schedule and over budget. According to Tesoro, the tension partly stemmed from Trump鈥檚 reluctance to acknowledge that the increase in size and complexity of the project couldn鈥檛 be achieved within a budget that hadn鈥檛 been revised.

鈥淚 was naive and I was committed to the project so we kept going even toward the end of the contract.鈥�

Tesoro also says Trump held out the prospect of bigger and more lucrative projects to keep him on side. Tesoro says he parted on good terms with Trump at the end of the project.

鈥淥ur relationship even at the end was very positive, he wrote me a beautiful recommendation letter.鈥�

However, Tesoro alleges that the proportion of unpaid invoices began to mount up. When he contacted one of Trump鈥檚 executive vice presidents to find out what was going on, Tesoro was advised to attend a meeting at the now complete clubhouse. There he says he found another 30-plus contractors.

The 64-year old had expected that he might not see a significant portion of the payment due to grey areas in the way that the contract had developed. 鈥淚 envisioned that I might have to leave 10-15% on the table,鈥� he says.

But after 20 minutes of going through the paperwork, he was shocked when, he claims, Trump鈥檚 representatives offered just $50,000 of the disputed bill of $140,000 on a 鈥渢ake it or leave it鈥� basis.

He swallowed his pride and accepted the sum. When even that wasn鈥檛 paid, Tesoro managed to secure a face-to-face meeting with Trump, where the latter told him that he would give him half the allegedly promised sum because he was a 鈥渘ice guy鈥�.

Despite ending up with only $25,000, Tesoro decided not to sue Trump over loss of earnings.

鈥淚t would take so long and cost you so much in legal fees that it probably won鈥檛 be worth it. I have a small firm that I didn鈥檛 want to get into a five or 10-year battle with Donald Trump for any amount of money.鈥�

And while Tesoro may be out of pocket following his involvement with the billionaire, he is more concerned about Trump on the big stage of world politics.

鈥淚f he wants to remain a prominent real estate developer and behave in that way it鈥檚 unfortunate but if he wants to be president of the United States and have impact on the entire world community it鈥檚 a horrific pattern and behaviour model for leadership.

鈥淗e measures everything in terms of money as many developers do but that must not be the only measuring stick for an important leader and public servant,鈥� says Tesoro.

Tesoro鈥檚 story has been taken up by Hilary Clinton鈥檚 campaign and she highlighted his complaints in last week鈥檚 TV presidential debate, at which Tesoro himself was in the audience. Responding to Clinton, Trump said: 鈥淢aybe he didn鈥檛 do a good job and I was dissatisfied with his work.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 spokesperson was contacted by 黑洞社区 to comment on Tesoro鈥檚 allegations but did not respond.