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Donald Trump's name graces the luxury hotels all over the world, but it is also related to the Trump Hotel – a transaction with a controversial business partner from Azerbaijan, who is accused of using his office for enriching his family, the website motherjones.com reports.

Trump's partner in the venture is Anar Mammadov, a 34-year-old billionaire playboy whose father serves as transportation minister in Azerbaijan, country considered as one of the world's most corrupt ones. 

Meanwhile, according to the article, Mammadov has launched a campaign to rehabilitate Azerbaijan's kleptocratic image in the West by courting some of Washington's most powerful politicians.

Like many of the buildings that bear his name, the hotel in Baku is owned not by Trump but a company called Garant, which is controlled by Mammadov. But last year Trump received $2.5 million fees for lending his name. 

Mammadov, whose clan is close to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, is rumored to be worth over $1 billion.

According to the article, Azerbaijan is considered one of the world's most repressive and corrupt countries due to the regime's intolerance for dissent and the high degree of concentration of wealth among the political elite. 

Mammadov, who heads the Azerbaijan American Alliance, has demonstrated a keen interest in American politics. His organization was registered with the US Department of Justice as a foreign lobbyist group.

Last year, the alliance spent more than $2.8 million lobbying Congress and State Department to improve US-Azerbaijan relations, as well as around $500,000 trying to influence US Congressmen and officials.

Mammadov's personal life has drawn the attention of the Azerbaijani opposition newspapers. In 2010 one of them published reports that Mammadov had been expelled from Dubai following a raucous dinner party with friends. 

The authors conclude that Mammadov did not respond to interview requests or questions directed to the Azerbaijan American Alliance.

 

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