President-elect Donald Trump‘s youngest son, 18-year-old Barron, is seemingly following in his father’s footsteps by incorporating a real estate business.
In 1971, Donald Trump took control of his father’s residential real estate company in his mid-twenties. So began a business empire of homes, luxury hotels, casinos and golf courses in the United States and worldwide, making Trump a global household name and providing the platform for his political rise.
As Trump prepares to return to the White House on Jan. 20, the business activities of his closest family members in hundreds of companies, which include his real estate, hotels and golf clubs, most of which are managed through holding company the Trump Organization, will attract more scrutiny partly because of questions of potential political influence.
Business filings reviewed by Newsweek show that Barron Trump incorporated a real-estate business in July 2024. In the same month, his older brother Eric Trump also launched a previously unreported firm. Barron Trump’s firm was dissolved in November after Trump won the presidential election, but one of his partners told Newsweek there were plans to relaunch it.
Newsweek contacted representatives for the Trump family for comment.
Barron Trump stands on the South Lawn of the White House on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020. Donald Trump’s youngest son is starting a real-estate firm, Newsweek… Barron Trump stands on the South Lawn of the White House on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020. Donald Trump’s youngest son is starting a real-estate firm, Newsweek reveals. AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
Barron, 18, was pivotal in advising his father on how to reach younger voters, according to media reports. Eric, 41, is key to his father’s business interests, serving alongside his other brother, Donald Trump Jr., 47, as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
The firm linked to Barron Trump, named Trump, Fulcher & Roxburgh Capital Inc., is a real estate company incorporated on July 15, 2024, and dissolved on November 14, 2024, days after Donald Trump won the presidential election.
One of Barron Trump’s partners, Cameron Roxburgh, who attended the $40,000-a-year Palm Beach school Oxbridge Academy with him, told Newsweek the team dissolved the company to avoid media attention during the election but that it will be relaunched in the Spring.
Roxburgh told Newsweek the firm is a high-end real-estate development company that will have properties and golf courses in Utah, Arizona and Idaho. Roxburgh added that Donald Trump had offered his son private advice and approves of the idea. He said Donald Trump had not provided funding for the business but added that they aim for the company to be incorporated as a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, though there are no plans for this to happen yet.
The other incorporator, Carter Fulcher, is a partner of a luxury real estate company in Idaho, and the cousin of Idaho Republican Congressman Russ Fulcher. Roxburgh said Congressman Fulcher is not involved in the business. Newsweek contacted Congressman Fulcher’s representatives and Carter Fulcher for comment.
Mar-a-Lago address
The business’ principal office is listed at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and it was incorporated in the state of Wyoming, which is considered a business-friendly state because of low taxes and minimal regulations. Barron is now studying at New York University’s Stern School of Business
Three days before Barron incorporated his venture, his brother Eric incorporated ET Talks LLC on July 12, 2024.
Little public information is available about the purpose of ET Talks. Corporate filings show the company is registered to Trump National Golf Club, Jupiter, the estate in which Eric lives with his wife, Lara Trump, a former Fox News contributor who served as the co-chair of the Republican National Committee from March to December 2024.
Filings list Lizebeth Kyprislidis, director of project coordination at the Trump Organization as a point of contact for correspondence relating to the incorporation of the business. Newsweek contacted the Trump Organization and Kyprislidis for comment.
While there are no federal laws of U.S. Constitution provisions that require a president to remove himself from business interests, The Trump Organization announced on Friday that Donald Trump will not have any involvement in managing his real estate company during his second term as president. He appointed an outside ethics adviser, lawyer William Burck, a longtime Republican, to avoid conflicts of interest.
Richard Painter, who served as former President George W. Bush‘s top ethics lawyer, told Newsweek that the President-elect’s sons’ business dealings could become problematic for Donald Trump if he invests or has any financial interest in them and doesn’t disclose this relationship publicly.
“To stay clean the President needs to not receive any money from any of these businesses or he has to disclose it,” he said.
He added that it was important that Donald Trump doesn’t “do anything in his official capacity that tries to promote these businesses or help them along.”
“That would be an abuse of public office,” he told Newsweek.
Aside from incorporating ET Talks, in recent months Eric Trump has also been promoting a cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, with Donald Trump Jr. Public information indicates that most of his other business activities involve subsidiaries of Donald Trump’s businesses.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. too has engaged in recent corporate activity. In November, Newsweek revealed that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. set up two new holding companies for a recreational boat and a hunting camp.
