condos in order to get visas under the EB-5 program. So we were very familiar with a pattern of corruption and illicit finance related to purchasing of condos.
MR. SCHIFF: Did you find evidence of that with respect to Mr. Trump?
MR. SIMPSON: I think a lot of what we found is subsequently -- there have been similar articles published. "Evidence," I think, is a strong word. I think we saw patterns of buying and selling that we thought were suggestive of money laundering.
I think what I was saying to Mr. Gowdy about sort of, you know, because we are not law enforcement, we don't have compulsory power, and we also don't have, you know -- we're not lawyers, or prosecutors, or even special -- even secret agents.
Generally, we find patterns of things, and then if it seems like it's potentially a law enforcement matter then we would turn it over to law enforcement. Or, you know, if it's enough to write a story, we would give it to a journalist.
MR. SCHIFF: And, in this case, what facts came to your attention that concerned you that the buying and selling of properties -- the buying and selling of Trump properties might indicate money laundering?
MR. SIMPSON: There was -- well, for one thing, there was various criminals were buying the properties. So there was a gangster -- a Russian gangster living in Trump Tower.
MR. SCHIFF: Who was that?
MR. SIMPSON: His gangster name is Taiwanchik. I couldn't spell his actual name. But, you know, I mean, these are the kind of things that prompted us to hire Mr. Steele. We had a gangster named Taiwanchik living in Trump Tower who had been under -- I'm sorry, he was -- I think he was running
UNCLASSIFIED, COMMITTEE SENSITIVE
