Michael Boulos was an aspiring businessman, just a few years out of college, when he knelt in the White House Rose Garden in January 2021 and asked President Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump to marry him.

2021年1月在白宫玫瑰园下跪向特朗普总统的女儿蒂芙尼·特朗普求婚时，迈克尔·布洛斯是一位刚大学毕业没几年、胸怀壮志的生意人。

Almost immediately after she said yes, Mr. Boulos, his family and their associates were benefiting financially from his proximity to his soon-to-be in-laws.

在她答应求婚后，布洛斯和他的家人、商业伙伴几乎立刻就从这段准姻亲关系中获得了经济利益。

The first deal was a family affair. Mr. Boulos, working for his cousin’s international yacht brokerage, sold his future brother-in-law Jared Kushner on an investment in a roughly 50-meter superyacht. Unbeknown to Mr. Kushner, the firm overcharged him and worked to conceal the true price from him, contemporaneous text messages show. The exact amount is unclear but the messages and a lawyer’s written description of the deal say the overcharge was $2.5 million.

第一笔交易是家族内部生意。为堂兄的国际游艇经纪公司工作的布洛斯说服未来的连襟贾里德·库什纳投资了一艘约50米长的超级游艇。根据当时的短信记录，在库什纳不知情的情况下，该公司不仅多收了他的钱，还试图向他隐瞒真实价格。虽然具体金额尚不清楚，但短信和一位律师对交易的书面描述均指出，多收金额为250万美元。

The second arrangement involved something less tangible: access to the Trumps. Mr. Boulos’s cousin promised to get a Saudi businessman invited to the Boulos-Trump wedding so that the businessman could pose for photographs with the Trumps and project a closeness with the family. “We want you to be at the top of the guest list,” the cousin, Jimmy Frangi, wrote.

第二项安排涉及的是更隐性的资源：接近特朗普家族的机会。布洛斯的堂兄承诺让一名沙特商人获得布洛斯与蒂芙尼·特朗普婚礼的请柬，以便这位商人可以与特朗普家族合影，营造与该家族关系密切的形象。"我们希望将您列在嘉宾名单的最前面，”堂兄吉米·弗兰吉写道。

Everyone involved denies wrongdoing, and both deals went bad. Mr. Kushner’s yacht sits unfinished in Greece. And the Saudi businessman never got the access (or the wedding invitation) that he had been offered. But Mr. Boulos received about $300,000 from the yacht sale, his cousin says, and $100,000 from the Saudi businessman.

所有相关方均否认存在不当行为，且两笔交易都出了问题。库什纳的游艇至今仍在希腊处于未完工状态，而沙特商人也未能获得承诺的接触机会（以及婚礼请柬）。但据布洛斯的堂兄透露，布洛斯从游艇交易中获利约30万美元，从沙特商人处收取了10万美元。

A spokesman for Mr. Boulos and Ms. Trump said that Mr. Boulos had received only a prenegotiated finder’s fee in the yacht deal and had since ended his business relationship with Mr. Frangi, the yacht broker. “Mr. Boulos is proud of and honored by his close, familial relationship with Mr. Kushner,” the spokesman said in an email.

布洛斯与蒂芙尼·特朗普的发言人表示，布洛斯在游艇交易中仅获得了事先商定的中介佣金，且已终止与游艇经纪人弗兰吉的商业合作。“布洛斯为与库什纳的亲密家庭关系感到自豪与荣幸，”发言人在邮件中说。

As for the money from the Saudi businessman, the spokesman said it had nothing to do with access to the Trumps but was instead to settle an unrelated debt. He said Mr. Boulos had no involvement in the plan that his cousin had described in text messages.

至于来自沙特商人的资金，该发言人称，那并非花钱买接近特朗普家族的机会，而是为了偿还一笔不相关的债务。他说，布洛斯没有参与堂兄在短信中描述的计划。

The Trump administration has blurred the lines between family, business and government, with the president conducting diplomacy with the same foreign governments that are negotiating cryptocurrency and real estate deals with his family.

特朗普政府模糊了家族、商业和政府之间的界限，总统在与外国政府进行外交活动时，这些政府也在与他的家族商谈加密货币和房地产交易。

The Bouloses are a variation on that theme. The previously unreported deals — which The New York Times pieced together through contracts, court records, contemporaneous text messages and interviews — show that Mr. Boulos, his family and his associates were in a position to benefit financially as soon as he became engaged to Ms. Trump, the only child of Mr. Trump and his former wife Marla Maples.

而布洛斯家族正是该主题的一个支线——《纽约时报》通过合同、法庭记录、短信记录及访谈还原了此前未见公开的交易，从中可以看到，自与特朗普和前妻玛拉·梅普尔斯所生的独生女订婚起，布洛斯家族及其关联方就已进入利益输送通道。

The wedding, held at the president’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida, raised the family’s profile and turned the patriarch, Massad Boulos, into an important Trump campaign surrogate. News coverage portrayed him as a billionaire business magnate, even though there is no evidence that he has significant wealth resulting from his own commercial activities. Massad Boulos’s stake in his in-laws’ Nigerian truck company was worth less than $2, The Times found last year.

在总统位于佛罗里达州的马阿拉歌庄园举行的婚礼提升了布洛斯家族的声望，并将迈克尔·布洛斯的父亲马萨德·布洛斯变成了特朗普竞选阵营的重要代言人。媒体将其塑造为身价过亿的商业巨子，尽管并无证据表明他通过商业活动积累了巨额财富。《纽约时报》去年调查发现，马萨德·布洛斯在其岳父的尼日利亚卡车公司的持股价值不足2美元。

Mr. Trump’s election in 2024 propelled Massad Boulos into government. He became a presidential adviser on the Middle East and then a senior State Department adviser on Africa.

特朗普2024年的胜选帮助了马萨德·布洛斯进入政府体系。他先后担任总统中东事务顾问及国务院非洲事务高级顾问。

And Michael Boulos is seeking business there, according to the former prime minister of Guinea.

据几内亚前总理称，迈克尔·布洛斯正在当地寻找商机。

“He is pursuing work,” the former prime minister, Lansana Kouyaté, said in an interview. He would not discuss details but said that Michael Boulos told him a few months ago that he was working to “put together some investors from the United States and some governments in Africa.”

“他正在积极拓展业务，”前总理兰萨纳·库亚特在接受采访时表示。他拒绝讨论细节，但称迈克尔·布洛斯数月前曾告知正致力于“促成美国投资者与非洲多国政府的合作”。

Mr. Kouyaté said that, as far as he was concerned, the business of Michael Boulos and the political role of his father were inseparable.

库亚特表示，在他看来，迈克尔·布洛斯的商业活动与其父亲的政治角色密不可分。

The former prime minister recounted his conversation with Michael Boulos in two separate interviews. But after Mr. Boulos was asked to comment, Mr. Kouyaté sent an unsolicited email suddenly denying knowing or speaking with him. Asked to explain the discrepancy, he blamed spotty cell service and said to rely on Michael Boulos’s account of the events. He said that someone, whom he would not identify, had told him to email The Times.

这位前总理在两次不同的采访中讲述了他与迈克尔·布洛斯的对话。但在布洛斯被要求置评后，库亚特发来一封电子邮件，矢口否认认识或接触过布洛斯。当被要求解释这种前后不一时，他归咎于手机信号不好，并表示应以迈克尔·布洛斯的说法为准。他说，有人（他不愿意透露姓名）让他给《纽约时报》发邮件。

A spokesman for Mr. Boulos said he did not know Mr. Kouyaté and had never spoken to him.

布洛斯的发言人则宣称，布洛斯根本不认识库亚特，也从未与他有过交谈。

Today, Mr. Boulos and Ms. Trump are raising a family. They welcomed their first child, Alexander, in May. Ms. Trump has kept a low profile but this week shared photos on Instagram of the family boating and of scenes from the French Riviera.

如今，迈克尔·布洛斯与蒂芙尼·特朗普迎来了新的家庭成员。两人在5月有了第一个孩子亚历山大。蒂芙尼·特朗普始终保持低调，但本周在Instagram发布了全家出海游玩以及在法国蔚蓝海岸度假的照片。

With the Boulos family close to power, associates are also seeking their own opportunities. Around the time of the presidential inauguration, Habib Saidi, a businessman and close friend of the Bouloses, was sitting with Michael Boulos at Mar-a-Lago when he spotted Kacy Grine, a financier with deep ties in Saudi Arabia, dining on the terrace.

随着布洛斯家族接近权力中心，他们的商业伙伴也在寻求商机。在总统就职典礼前后，布洛斯家族密友、商人哈比卜·萨伊迪在跟迈克尔·布洛斯一起坐在马阿拉歌庄园时，瞥见在沙特阿拉伯有深厚人脉的金融家凯西·格林正在露台上用餐。

Mr. Saidi stepped away from Mr. Boulos and, in front of others, introduced himself to Mr. Grine. Mr. Saidi said that he and his friends wanted to use the opportunity, while they were close to the center of American power, to do business in the Middle East, according to a person who witnessed the conversation. Mr. Saidi mentioned construction projects in Saudi Arabia.

萨伊迪当即撇下布洛斯，走上前当着众人的面向格林作自我介绍。据目击者称，萨伊迪表示，他和他的朋友们希望利用他们接近美国权力中心的机会，在中东开展业务。萨伊迪还提到了在沙特阿拉伯的建设项目。

Mr. Saidi said he had no recollection of the conversation. Mr. Grine said he would not discuss his business interests.

萨伊迪说，他对这次谈话毫无印象。格林则拒绝讨论自己的商业利益。

The Superyacht ‘Solstice’

超级游艇“至日”号

As a young yacht broker, Michael Boulos had a knack for business development, his cousin Jimmy Frangi recalled.

迈克尔·布洛斯的堂兄吉米·弗兰吉回忆说，作为一名年轻的游艇经纪人，布洛斯在拓展业务方面很有天赋。

Mr. Boulos identified his soon-to-be brother-in-law Jared Kushner as a potential client, and brought Mr. Frangi to meet him. The cousins made an investment pitch: Get a good deal on a yacht, refurbish it and sell or lease it as a moneymaker.

布洛斯锁定他未来的连襟贾里德·库什纳，将其作为潜在客户，并带弗兰吉去见他。这对堂兄弟提出了一个投资方案：以优惠的价格购入一艘游艇，翻新后出售或出租牟利。

By June 2021, documents show, Michael Boulos was sending Mr. Kushner sales presentations about an unfinished yacht, later named the Solstice.

文件显示，截至2021年6月，迈克尔·布洛斯向库什纳发去了一艘未完工游艇（后命名为“至日”号）的销售方案。

The firm told Mr. Kushner that the price to acquire the yacht was 12.5 million euros, or about $15 million at the time. That included costs and a flat brokerage commission of 1 million euros for Mr. Boulos, Mr. Frangi and their colleagues.

该公司告诉库什纳，这艘游艇的收购价格为1250万欧元，当时约合1500万美元。这笔费用包括了成本以及布洛斯、弗兰吉和他们的同事收取的100万欧元固定佣金。

“Just so we understand the business deal,” Mr. Kushner said on a call, according to portions of a transcript, “you are going to make 1mm on the closing.”

“我们把交易细节说清楚，”根据通话记录文本，库什纳在电话中表示，“你们将在交易完成时拿到100万。”

But according to Mr. Frangi’s text messages at the time, his firm was making much more than that. The brokers were spending millions less to acquire the yacht than they claimed to Mr. Kushner, according to Mr. Frangi’s messages. “THIS MAKES US 3.5,” Mr. Frangi told an associate.

但根据弗兰吉当时的短信记录，其公司实际获利远不止于此。短信显示，经纪人收购这艘游艇的成本比向库什纳的报价低数百万欧元。“我们到手350万美金，”弗兰吉告知一位合作伙伴。

The text messages show that his brokerage worked to conceal the details from Mr. Kushner. “It’s going to be difficult to hide,” an executive at the firm wrote. He said it was important that Mr. Kushner not hire an independent appraiser.

短信记录显示，他的经纪公司曾试图向库什纳隐瞒细节。该公司的一位高管写道：“这很难瞒得住。”他说，重要的是，不能让库什纳聘请独立的估价师。

“至日”号超级游艇停泊在希腊佩拉马一家私人造船厂的干船坞中，摄于周日。

Mr. Boulos was not copied on those messages, and it is not clear whether he was aware of this aspect of the plan. But text messages make clear that he was personally engaged in the process. When Mr. Kushner’s lawyer seemed to be slowing the deal down, for example, Mr. Boulos made his displeasure known inside the firm. “Me and Tiffany,” he wrote to associates, are “pissed off.”

虽然这些短信未抄送布洛斯，其是否知情尚不明确。但短信清楚地表明，他亲自参与了整个过程。例如，当库什纳的律师似乎在拖慢交易进度时，布洛斯在公司内部表达了他的不满。“我和蒂芙尼，”他给同事写道，都“很恼火”。

The family spokesman said that Ms. Trump had “no knowledge of or interest in any part of these transactions.”

家族发言人表示，蒂芙尼·特朗普“对这些交易完全不知情且没有利益牵扯”。

The sale closed in early 2022. Mr. Frangi said that he had made about $400,000 from the commission, and that Mr. Boulos had made $300,000.

这笔交易于2022年初完成。弗兰吉说，他从佣金中赚了约40万美元，而布洛斯赚了30万美元。

Mr. Frangi also acknowledged taking extra money that had been earmarked for transaction fees. But he said it was a few hundred thousand dollars, not millions. He said that it was wrong to think of the price as inflated. He said the deal called for Mr. Kushner’s investment group to pay a single sum to buy, transport and insure the yacht. If Mr. Frangi could do it all for less, then of course he’d make more profit, he said.

弗兰吉还承认截留了本应作为交易费用的资金。但他声称，这笔钱只有几十万美元，而不是数百万美元。他否认存在价格虚高。他解释称，库什纳投资集团支付的是包含购买、运输和保险的整体费用。他说，如果他能以更低的成本完成所有这些事情，那么他当然会赚取更多的利润。

If that was the deal, that is not what the contracts say.

但合同条款并未体现这种安排。

As for his text messages, Mr. Frangi said they were unreliable. “I write usually very erratic and I just throw things and I always live in the future and everybody knows that about me,” he wrote in a text message to The Times.

至于自己的短信记录，弗兰吉说那些东西不能作为依据。他在给《纽约时报》的一条短信中写道：“我通常行文随性，想到什么就发什么，习惯超前思维，大家都知道这点。”

Mr. Kushner eventually realized that he had been overcharged, according to a lawyer who recounted the deal during a client’s financial dispute with Mr. Frangi. The lawyer, Taylor Howard, wrote that Mr. Kushner had been overcharged by $2.5 million and confronted Mr. Frangi, who concealed the reason for the higher price. “In reality, Mr. Frangi was using that to bolster his returns on the transaction,” Mr. Howard wrote.

一位律师在处理其客户与弗兰吉的财务纠纷过程中复述这笔交易说，库什纳最终意识到自己被多收了钱。这位名叫泰勒·霍华德的律师写道，库什纳被多收了250万美元，并跟弗兰吉对质，后者隐瞒了高价的原因。霍华德写道：“实际上，弗兰吉是借此增加他在这笔交易中获得的回报。”

A spokesman for Mr. Kushner declined to comment on details of the deal. He said that Mr. Boulos had recently been doing a “great job” working to find a new buyer for the yacht, and that a deal was pending.

库什纳的发言人拒绝就交易细节发表评论。他表示，布洛斯最近在为那艘游艇寻找新买家方面做得“非常出色”，交易已接近达成。

The Saudi Deal

沙特交易

On June 22, 2022, a few months after the yacht deal closed, Michael Boulos and Mr. Frangi gathered at the Virginia home of a wealthy Saudi businessman. Mr. Frangi knew the businessman, Abdulelah Allam, through the yacht business and was millions of dollars in debt to him.

2022年6月22日，也就是游艇交易完成几个月后，迈克尔·布洛斯和弗兰吉齐聚弗吉尼亚州一位沙特富商的家中。弗兰吉通过游艇业务认识了这位名叫阿卜杜勒拉·阿拉姆的商人，并欠了他数百万美元。

Mr. Allam was in Virginia in self-imposed exile. He had potentially billions of dollars in real estate seized by the Saudi government during a 2017 corruption crackdown by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and was desperate to get his property back.

阿拉姆是流亡至弗吉尼亚的。在2017年王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼发起的反腐行动中，他有价值可能高达数十亿美元的房地产被沙特政府没收，他迫切希望能够收回自己的财产。

Mr. Frangi came up with a plan, text messages show: He could use his relationship with Mr. Boulos and the Trump family to help Mr. Allam persuade the crown prince to return his property. In exchange, Mr. Frangi said, he wanted Mr. Allam to forgive his debt and cut him in on a future business deal.

短信记录显示，弗兰吉想出了一个计划：他可以利用自己与布洛斯及特朗普家族的关系，帮助阿拉姆说服王储归还财产。作为交换，弗兰吉要求免除他的债务，并参与其未来的商业合作。

沙特阿拉伯首都利雅得，摄于2017年。在打击腐败和王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼的政敌的行动中，沙特政府没收了商人阿卜杜勒拉·阿拉姆的房产。

Mr. Boulos had needs of his own, Mr. Frangi said. “He needs 25,000$,” he told Mr. Allam in a text message in advance of the meeting. “Is loan. I told him.” He included Mr. Boulos’s name and bank account information.

弗兰吉说，布洛斯亦有需求。“他要25000美元，”他在会面前发给阿拉姆的短信中说。“是借款。我跟他说清楚了。”他还附上了布洛斯的姓名和银行账户信息。

The day of the Virginia meeting, Mr. Allam texted that he had deposited $100,000 into Mr. Boulos’s account.

弗吉尼亚会面当日，阿拉姆短信通知已向布洛斯账户存入10万美元。

Everyone involved said the money was not intended to buy access. But they offered contradictory explanations for it.

所有相关方均声称这笔钱不是为了购买人脉。但他们的解释相互矛盾。

According to Michael Boulos’s spokesman, Mr. Frangi’s “financially struggling company” owed Mr. Boulos money. So, at Mr. Frangi’s request, the Saudi businessman settled the debt by paying Mr. Boulos himself, the spokesman said.

据迈克尔·布洛斯的发言人称，弗兰吉那家“财务陷入困境的公司”欠布洛斯的钱。发言人说，因此，应弗兰吉的要求，这位沙特商人通过直接向布洛斯付款代为偿债。

But an aide to Mr. Allam said the money was a loan to Mr. Boulos that Mr. Boulos still intended to repay.

但阿拉姆的一名助手表示，这笔钱是给布洛斯的贷款，且对方仍打算偿还。

Mr. Frangi has explained the money in different ways, at times calling it a loan to Mr. Boulos and at other times calling it the settling of a debt.

弗兰吉则多次改变说辞，时而称其为给布洛斯的借贷，时而称其为债务清偿。

Whatever the purpose, in the weeks and months that followed the $100,000 bank deposit, Mr. Frangi detailed plans to “soften up” Saudi officials. Part of that involved presenting Mr. Allam as being close to the Trumps. “We have a month and a half to get everything started before the wedding,” Mr. Frangi wrote in text messages.

无论目的为何，在这10万美元入账后的数周和数月里，弗兰吉详细制定了跟沙特官员“套近乎”的方案，包括将阿拉姆包装成特朗普家族的密友。“婚礼前有一个半月时间启动所有计划，”他在短信中写道。

They strategized about photographs and access. “Would be good you fly with Michael and Tiffany pls,” he wrote to Mr. Allam. Later, in Arabic, he added, “Please delete all texts.”

他们精心设计了合影和接触机会。他向阿拉姆写道：“最好请您与迈克尔和蒂芙尼同机出行。”后来，他又用阿拉伯语补充道：“请删除所有短信。”

Mr. Boulos was not copied on those text messages. Mr. Allam’s aide, Rashad el-Hassanieh, said: “Mikey never promised anything. He said, ‘I’ll listen, but I can’t promise anything.’”

这些短信未抄送布洛斯。阿拉姆的助手拉沙德·哈萨尼耶表示：“麦奇从未承诺任何事。他只说，‘我会听听看，但无法保证结果’。”

Mr. Boulos was not involved, his spokesman said. “Mr. Boulos has never dealt with, been involved with, nor discussed Mr. Allam’s Saudi Arabia concerns with anyone, including Mr. Allam himself,” he said.

布洛斯的发言人强调他未参与此事。“布洛斯先生从未处理、参与或与任何人讨论过阿拉姆在沙特的相关事宜，包括阿拉姆本人。”

As months went on, people around Mr. Allam warned him that the plan had little chance of working, messages show.

短信记录显示，几个月后，阿拉姆周围的人警告他，这个计划成功的可能性很小。

They were right. Mr. Allam never got his wedding invite, his access or his property back.

事实证明他们是对的。阿拉姆既未获得婚礼请柬，没有得到接触特朗普家族的机会，也没有拿回他的财产。