A $500 million project to build President Donald Trump‘s first luxury hotel in Serbia was put on hold after a government official admitted that they forged a document to expedite the project.

In March 2024, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said he planned to develop luxury hotels in Belgrade, Serbia, the nation’s capital.

Kushner secured a deal with Serbia in May to build a luxury hotel in Belgrade.

His investment firm, Affinity Partners, acquired a 99-year lease to allow for its development in the city. The hotel is set to be built on top of the remains of the old Yugoslav Ministry of Defense headquarters.

The compound was severely damaged in a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign during the Kosovo War of 1999.

The president has been interested in obtaining the site since 2014.

He finally gained tentative approval from the Serbian government in 2024, but the project has now been paused.

Goran Vasic, the former director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, was arrested after admitting to forging an expert opinion to justify stripping the site of its protected status, which prevented it from being demolished.

Legal protection was removed on November 14, 2024, less than two weeks after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, allowing the project to progress.

“Vasic forged a proposal for a decision to revoke the status of cultural property,” the Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime declared in a statement.

The forgery had been the legal basis for revoking the protected status of the compound.

Affinity Partners replied by denying involvement or knowledge of the affair.

“Today we learned from media reports that a former Serbian government official with no connection to our firm allegedly falsified documents related to the landmark designation of the Belgrade Square project,” the investment firm mentioned in their statement. “We will review this matter and determine next steps.”

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Article by Alessio Atria

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