The most lucrative deal of Ricardo Bellino’s life was Villa Trump, a half-billion-dollar golf resort that never got built.
Bellino pitched Donald Trump on the idea in 2003 in his Manhattan office under the pressure of a three-minute deadline. The deal that featured a Jack Nicklaus-designed course and Bill Clinton as honorary celebrity member fell through when the project’s Brazilian investors backed out -– but not without termination fees. Trump walked away with $7 million, Bellino and his partners twice that.
