Felix Sater

Early life and family

Sater was born in Moscow into a Russian Jewish family, the son of Mikhail Sheferovsky and Rachel Sheferovskaya. He has a sister, Regina. The family immigrated to Israel when Felix was 8 years old to avoid religious persecution in the Soviet Union, and eventually came to the United States, living in Baltimore, Maryland before settling in Brighton Beach, New York in 1974. Felix and his sister adopted the surname Sater. Mikhail Sheferovsky (also known as Michael Sheferofsky) states that the family name was Saterov at some point (Сатаров). According to the FBI, Mikhail Sheferovsky was an underboss for Russian Mafia "boss of bosses" Semion Mogilevich and convicted of extorting money from local restaurants, grocery stores, and a medical clinic.

Business and advisory career

After attending Pace University, Sater started working as a stockbroker for Bear Stearns on Wall Street. A few years later, Sater changed paths to real estate, and eventually became a senior advisor for several corporations and industries in fields including real estate, hospitality, investing, and oil.

Sater served as the senior advisor to Chairman Fettah Tamince of Rixos Otelleri, a Turkish hotel and resort company, starting in 2005. In 2007, he spent time as the senior advisor of Sembol Construction, a privately-held construction company based in Istanbul, Turkey.

In January 2008, Sater joined the Russian real estate company Mirax Group as a senior advisor to Sergei Polonsky, and stayed with the company through the integration of Mirax into the holding company Potok in 2011. In 2009, he became a managing director at Global Habitat Solutions, a New York City housing, energy, and infrastructure conglomerate. Since September 2011, Sater has been a senior advisor at TxOil, a Turkmenistan-based oil company.

Work with the Bayrock Group

Sater joined Bayrock Group as a senior advisor in 2003 at the behest of the company's owner and founder, Tevfik Arif. As a senior advisor, he assisted with several projects, including executive decisions in the Trump SoHo project.

Trump SoHo

Felix Sater was a managing director of Bayrock Group LLC, as well as a senior advisor to Donald Trump and The Trump Organization when construction of the Trump SoHo began in 2006

He played a major role throughout the process of the building's construction, and remained managing director of Bayrock Group when the Trump SoHo project was completed in 2010. The building is a $450 million, 46-story, 39-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street in SoHo, New York City. The project was a collaboration between The Trump Organization, Bayrock Group LLC and Tamir Sapir.

Other projects

Sater has been an advisor, investor, or developer in notable real estate projects including the Trump International Hotel & Residence in Phoenix, Arizona, the Conrad Fort Lauderdale and Midtown Miami in Florida, and Cornwall Terrace and 1 Blackfriars in London.

In addition to real estate development endeavors, Sater also has started businesses in the fields of philanthropy, investment, retail, and energy.

In late January 2017, Sater met with Ukrainian politician Andrey Artemenko and Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, at the Loews Regency in Manhattan to discuss a plan to lift sanctions against Russia. The proposed plan would require that Russian forces withdraw from eastern Ukraine and that Ukraine hold a referendum on whether Crimea should be "leased" to Russia for 50 or 100 years. Sater gave Cohen a written proposal in a sealed envelope that was delivered to then-National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn in early February. On 20 February 2017, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected Russia "leasing" Crimea from Ukraine claiming "we cannot rent from ourselves".

Criminal convictions and federal cooperation

In 1991, Sater got into an argument with a commodities broker at the El Rio Grande restaurant and bar in Midtown. He stabbed the man's cheek and neck with the stem of a margarita glass, breaking his jaw, lacerating his face, and severing nerves, creating a wound that would require 110 stitches to treat. Sater was convicted of first degree assault and spent 15 months in Edgecombe Correctional Facility before being paroled. In 1998, Sater was convicted of fraud in connection to a $40 million penny stock pump and dump scheme conducted by the Russian Mafia involving his company White Rock Partners. In return for a guilty plea, Sater agreed to assist the FBI and federal prosecutors as an informant in organized crime. In 2009, he was sentenced to pay a $25,000 fine and served no prison time. As a result of his assistance, Sater's court records were sealed for 10 years by Loretta Lynch, then the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Lynch's decision to seal his records was discussed at her 2015 Congressional confirmation hearings to become attorney general; she stated that Sater provided "information crucial to national security and the conviction of over 20 individuals, including those responsible for committing massive financial fraud and members of La Cosa Nostra."

In July 2017, The Financial Times, citing five sources with knowledge of the matter, reported that Sater had agreed to cooperate with investigators looking into an international money laundering scheme involving Viktor Khrapunov, a former government minister in Kazakhstan. Khrapunov, who now lives in Switzerland, has been accused by the Kazakhstani government of embezzling millions of dollars and is wanted by Interpol.

Personal life

Sater resides in Port Washington, New York with his wife Viktoria. He is an active member of the Chabad of Port Washington and was named their Man of the Year in 2010 and 2014.