A report from the Chicago Tribune. "Back in 2003, when Trump was planning his downtown residential tower, he gave about 40 insiders an attractive deal: They could sign contracts to buy condominiums in the Trump International Hotel & Tower at a discount. In some cases they agreed to pay about $500 a square foot. But units in the building, still under construction, are on the market for as much as $1,343 a square foot."

"Trump has notified them that their agreements are 'null and void.' Some real estate experts strained to cite a precedent for a developer offering contracts at a preconstruction discount to get the ball rolling on a project and then canceling the deals later as selling prices rose. 'I never heard of this before,' said Richard Peiser, a professor of real estate development at the Harvard Graduate School of Design."

"If a developer asks firms they work with to buy units 'to help a project appear successful and achieve certain hurdles,' Peiser said, 'it would seem the buyer should enjoy the upside.'"

"One of Trump's unhappy 'friends' is Judi Diamond-Falk, an Evanston architect who designed an early sales office for him here. 'Anyone who buys preconstruction gets a financial benefit for the risk they take,' Diamond-Falk said."

"Trump also benefited from the early sales, she added, because he 'could say that a certain percentage of units are presold to get his financing and tell the public a certain percentage was presold. People didn't know they were friends and family sales.'"

"Trump said in an interview Monday that the sales contract included wording that allows him to raise the prices for the friends and family units. In June, Trump attorney Jason Greenblatt wrote to the Diamond-Falks to notify them that the sale was 'null and void,' citing 'Paragraph 12 (b)' of the contract. That clause refers very generally to 'matters beyond [the] seller's reasonable control' as a reason for the developer to default on the contract."

"The friends and family sales 'were a gift' to a small group, said Greenblatt. 'From Day One, they understood that if the project was successful, the windfall would go to Mr. Trump,' he said."

"In the past two years the slowdown in the residential market has affected the approximately $775 million tower, Trump acknowledged. About 21 percent of the residential units remain unsold, said Tere Proctor, Trump's sales director here. At the same time, construction costs have skyrocketed."

"Trump said one reason for canceling the friends and families contracts is to 'have more income to handle potentially higher construction costs.'"