{"id":752153,"date":"2026-08-28T05:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T05:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752153\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T05:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T05:24:14","slug":"900m-paid-out-by-trump-to-end-wind-farm-project-is-going-to-firm-run-by-a-mar-a-lago-neighbor-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/752153\/","title":{"rendered":"$900M paid out by Trump to end wind farm project is going to firm run by a Mar-a-Lago neighbor: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A company run by a neighbor of President Donald Trump is set to earn a nearly billion-dollar windfall as a result of a settlement deal to end U.S. offshore wind projects<\/a>, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

Under the settlement, announced earlier this month, the Trump administration will pay RWE<\/a>, a German energy company, $1.2 billion for it to relinquish its offshore leases in New York, California and Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The Republican president has long opposed offshore wind projects<\/a> \u2014 which he\u2019s labeled ugly, expensive and detrimental to whales \u2014 and has worked to block leases. Instead, his administration has moved to bolster and expand the fossil fuel industry<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter careful consideration, it was determined there is no path forward to permit these projects in the U.S. for the foreseeable future,\u201d RWE U.S. Offshore said in a statement<\/a>. The agreement brings the total amount spent on such settlements to nearly $4 billion.<\/p>\n

A stipulation of the deal is that RWE must invest in \u201cconventional energy\u201d ventures. In fact, the company will spend the lion\u2019s share of the payout, $900 million, to purchase part of a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, The Washington Post<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

\"AA firm run by one of Trump’s wealthy Mar-a-Lago neighbors is set to reap millions as a result of a Trump administration settlement deal to scrap a wind farm project, according to a new report (AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

That stake is being bought from Stonespeak, a private equity venture led by Michael Dorrell, an Australian billionaire. Dorrell, who is also a U.S. citizen, has both monetary and physical ties to the president.<\/p>\n

After Trump\u2019s 2024 election, he donated $1 million to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee. Dorrell also owns a home near Mar-a-Lago<\/a>, the president\u2019s Florida estate, and has bragged about mingling with the Republican\u2019s inner circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I\u2019ve taken a bunch of my friends there already,\u201d he said during a business event this year, according to the Post. \u201cYou\u2019re sitting 15 meters from the president and it\u2019s a cast of characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Dorrell, an Australian billionaire, owns a home near Mar-a-Lago, the president\u2019s Florida estate, and has bragged about mingling with the Republican\u2019s inner circle, according to the report. Pictured: Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for a New Year\u2019s Eve event at Mar-a-Lago on December 31, 2025 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The administration has insisted that everything is above board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s policies have unleashed an energy dominance revolution across our country. This story is a brazen attempt to insinuate a conflict-of-interest that does not exist,\u201d White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement shared with The Independent. \u201cThis kind of agenda-driven reporting is why Americans\u2019 trust in the legacy media is at an all-time low.\u201d <\/p>\n

RWE, meanwhile, said the company acted independently, and a spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversaw the settlement deal, said: \u201cNo one at the Department directed which company RWE was to invest in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Democratic lawmakers aren\u2019t buying the explanation, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese fake \u2018settlements\u2019 were already an insane waste of taxpayer funds and a ridiculous charade that seems to be blatantly illegal,\u201d Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, told the Post. \u201cThis now adds the stench of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-752153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}