Patricia Kluge, former wife of American billionaire
John Kluge, kept Albemarle per their 1990 divorce settlement. Afterwards, Kluge spent her fortune establishing an award-winning vineyard and winery which opened in 1999. She and her third husband, William Moses, took out $65 million in loans and mortgaged the mansion to finance production expansion and a related real-estate venture. In 2011, the couple defaulted on the loans and
Bank of America acquired the mortgage on the mansion, Albemarle House. The land outside the mansion's front door and bordering its long driveway is a stretch of rolling greenery that had a former life as John Kluge's private
Arnold Palmer–designed golf course. A quirk in the divorce settlement let John Kluge own this parcel, as his ex-wife kept the mansion and the land underneath, insulating it from Patricia's future financial woes. Trump, a longstanding friend of John and Patricia Kluge, purchased the estate, including the vineyards and winemaking operation, out of foreclosure from three different banks for $8.5 million. He initially offered the banks $20 million to bail out Kluge Estate, but when they refused, he began to buy the property through foreclosure auctions and private purchases. After acquiring the winery, Trump hired Patricia Kluge as vice president of operations and William Moses as chief executive officer. He also bought the parcel directly from the Kluge trust for $150,000. The bank later alleged that Trump subsequently arranged for "No Trespassing" signs to be placed around the property and allowed the lawns to become overgrown in order to ward off potential buyers giving an appearance of Trump's exclusive access to the property, although the bank's property interest of the main house included right-of-way
easements. Trump then purchased the land from Bank of America for $3.6 million, a significant discount from the $16 million the bank had paid at the foreclosure auction to retain the property and Kluge's original $100 million asking price the prior year. In October 2012, Trump bought Albemarle House from Bank of America for $6.7 million, completing acquisition of the entire estate. ==Operations==