The Palm Beach Post REAL NEWS STARTS HERE Sunday, September 20, 2020 D1 SUNDAYBUSINESS Trump, Russia and the Palm Beach mansion property sale a dozen years known that ago surged again this month in the buyer was the wake of yet another tell- Russian. all book about the president. “Don’t say This one by his former per- Russian,” sonal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Trump said. Back in 2008, the Palm Trump So the May Alexandra Clough Beach Post was the first to 15 story about learn and report that Trump the pending sale referred on’t say Russian.” had a contract to sell the to the buyer as “foreign.” Those were the former Abe Gosman estate The sale closed in July 2008 ‘Dwords Donald at 515 N. County Road. for $95 million to County Trump first told me The property was known Road Property LLC, netting back in May 2008. as Maison de L’Amitie, or Trump a profit of $54 mil- Donald Trump bought this mansion at 515 N. County Road in Palm The topic was the buyer of House of Friendship. lion just months before global Beach in 2004 and sold it in 2008 for a recorded $95 million to Russian a Palm Beach mansion owned Sources familiar with the markets crashed. County businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev. It has since been torn down and by Trump. The then-New deal told me that the man- Road Property was owned by subdivided into three lots. [PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO] York real estate developer had sion’s buyer was Russian, and Russian billionaire Dmitry just inked a blockbuster deal there were plans to tear down Rybolovlev, who made his to sell the oceanfront estate and subdivide the property. fortune in fertilizer potash. erstwhile attorney, Cohen, “Disloyal: A Memoir,” and the for $100 million — a record for In a telephone interview Details of the 2008 on MSNBC’s The Rachel sale of Trump's Palm Beach home sale even in the island's on May 14, 2008, Trump Trump interview came Maddow Show on Sept. 8. mansion. Cohen also dished billionaire playground. confirmed the pending sale to mind following the In the interview, Cohen The intrigue over the Trump but told me he didn’t want it appearance of Trump’s talked about his new book, See CLOUGH, D6 INSIDE | D4 GroovyTek teaches seniors LEGAL how to use consumer tech CLASSIFIEDS Job fair set to match workers, employers Alexandra Clough Palm Beach Post USA TODAY NETWORK A free virtual job fair featuring hundreds of jobs will take place on Wednesday as South Florida retailers, hos- pitality and tourism companies gear up for the coming tourist and holiday season. The Sept. 23 job fair will feature employ- ers working with CareerSource Palm Beach County, Broward and Research Coast, said Tom Veenstra, vice president of administra- tion for CareerSource Palm Beach County. The nonprofit helps job seek- Marc Storch, a trainer with GroovyTek, works with client Kim Pemberton in Denver. The company helps people understand consumer ers and employers. technology. It serves South Florida customers from Jupiter to Fort Lauderdale from its Boca Raton office. [GROOVYTEK] The fair follows one held on Sept. 16, with Teaching service aims technology in relatable, over to phone sessions, With more people working 10 Palm Beach County to coach client to have understandable terms and where we can remote into from home, spending more country clubs and pri- ‘epiphany’ moment become confident and someone’s computer or time at home and children vate clubs seeking 150 competent enough to turn do a Zoom meeting.” learning online from home, seasonal workers. About Susan Salisbury their frustrations into fun. The company is once the demand for GroovyTek’s 100 job seekers attended Special to Palm Beach Post In November the com- again doing home visits, services has grown. the hospitality job fair, USA TODAY NETWORK pany, headquartered in with employees wearing “Some customers Veenstra said. Denver, expanded to the masks and gloves and using have businesses out of But the upcoming Navigating the online South Florida market and disinfectants, or custom- their homes. They have event is expected to be world can be difficult, espe- opened its Boca Raton ers can opt for service over attached themselves to much larger and will cially for older people who office. Both in-home and the phone. Trainers can us as their consultants. feature hundreds of jobs didn’t grow up with tech- one-on-one phone ses- either remotely access a We work with them every in Palm Beach, Martin nology. Seeking the usual sions are available. More client’s computer or meet week,” Rogers said and Broward counties, “tech help” can result in a than 300 customers have with them on Zoom. Assistance can range from Veenstra said. barrage of confusing terms been served from Jupiter “People over 50, anybody teaching the client how to The jobs will be full- that can be intimidating. to Fort Lauderdale, said who has not been born and shop online, use email or time, part-time and GroovyTek’s found- Barry Rogers, GroovyTek’s raised with technology, is a texts, or master Facebook or seasonal positions. ers Matt Munro and Alex vice president. good candidate for us to be an iPhone. It also can go as Despite the corona- Rodas started the company “We opened the office working with. We get a lot of far as setting up a computer, virus pandemic, the in 2015 with people over 40 here in Boca Raton right calls from people in their 60s iPad, smart home system, a upcoming winter season in mind after they found before the pandemic,” to late 80s and early 90s. It Roomba robot vacuum or a is expected to see greater their parents needed help Rogers said. “We had to is pretty amazing to see peo- remote garage-door opener. demand for hospitality with technology. They morph into a different ple who are competent and “Our approach is so dif- services. recognized there was a approach. In-home ses- living independently. They ferent. If people have two Many employees niche for personalized help sions were not going to work really want to understand need workers between to enable people to grasp at the peak. We changed and learn,” Rogers said. See TECH, D3 October and Easter, when the winter season brings part-time resi- dents and tourists to the county. The hospitality industry is the county’s New companies face tough task overcoming pandemic, recession largest employer, and demand for hospitality Joyce M. Rosenberg company to sell directly to workers is expected to The Associated Press consumers. jump during the season, To save Pasted Paper, despite the pandemic, NEW YORK — Julie Campbell learned online Veenstra said. Campbell had to rethink selling and marketing — her new wallpaper business skills not immediately in her See FAIR, D3 before she could sell her first wheelhouse. sheet. “I had so much inventory Campbell launched Pasted and I needed to sell it. I was Paper in February, but soon forced to figure this out,” FIND after, the coronavirus forced Campbell says. the cancellation of the trade A recession amid a pan- RESIDENCES shows where she expected demic may seem like the to introduce her wallpaper worst time to start a business. SECTION to prospective retail custom- Despite millions of loans and ers. Suddenly, the $30,000 grants from federal and state INSIDE she’d invested in creating the governments, it’s estimated After losing their jobs as corporate executives during the pandemic, wallpaper was at risk, depen- Amy and Cody Morgan of Cypress, Texas, decided to start a pool dent on her transforming the See RECESSION, D2 servicing company, Pit Stop Pools. [DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS] The Palm Beach Post REAL NEWS STARTS HERE Sunday, September 20, 2020 D3 Carnival to ditch 18 ships to offset COVID-19 losses Taylor Dolven to say when it will be safe Miami Herald for cruise ships to resume passenger operations. Carnival Corporation At least 24 Carnival Corp. will part with a total of 18 ships have been affected by cruise ships in the next few COVID-19 and at least 80 of months — 12% of its fleet — the company’s passengers as it continues to cut costs and crew have died from while cruising in most of the the virus, according to a world remains banned. Miami Herald investigation. The company announced Carnival Corp., along with an adjusted third-quar- its competitors, have strug- ter loss of $1.7 billion in a gled to contain outbreaks financial filing Tuesday, among crew members on six months after it first its ships after all passengers announced it was shutting were repatriated. In June, down operations amid the Carnival Corp. decided to COVID-19 pandemic. The pull all of its cruise ships company had previously out of U.S. waters partly announced in July it would because it disagreed with part with 15 ships. The move a requirement from the to speed up efforts to slim CDC that crew members capacity comes as cruises remain in individual cabins in the U.S., the company’s as much as possible. It has most lucrative market, not reported COVID-19 or remain banned by the U.S. COVID-like illnesses to the Centers for Disease Control agency since then. and Prevention until Oct. 1. On Tuesday the company Most lines serving the U.S. said it is seeing bookings have ceased cruising until at for the second half of 2021 least Oct. 31. toward the higher end of Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Imagination, pictured in 2013, is one of 18 cruise ships Carnival Corp.