This article is adapted from the new book American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History..“In many ways, kleptocracy built Trump’s empire. And by the mid-2010s, Trump wanted it to help build something else: a political empire, one that could cement America’s kleptocratic transformation—and continue it for generations to come. American kleptocracy in a single person, who eventually used the proceeds of these suspect sales to help build a war chest that would launch him to the presidency."