A planned $500 million Trump-branded tower in Serbia has landed at the center of a criminal case, after an investigation alleged that the country's president personally pressured officials to clear the way for the development.

According to a Thursday investigation by The Guardian, leaked documents and interviews allege that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić summoned heritage officials to his office in February 2024 and pressured them to remove legal protections from a historic building in central Belgrade. The site was slated to become a hotel and residential tower backed by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and was intended to bear the Trump name.

The building, which once served as the headquarters of the Yugoslav military and was damaged in NATO's 1999 bombing campaign, carried cultural status protected by law. Removing that status therefore required a formal expert evaluation rather than a presidential decree — a procedural requirement that sits at the heart of the allegations that followed.

Two people familiar with the meeting said Vučić denounced the officials as lazy and incompetent and made clear that they should either comply or resign.

A leaked agreement disclosed by the outlet revealed a free 99-year lease for Kushner's company, while a separate contract reviewed by The Guardian committed Serbia to removing the site's heritage protection.

According to testimony summarized in the criminal indictment, two heritage officials resisted pressure from Finance Minister Siniša Mali but were ultimately forced to resign. Serbia revoked the building's protected status ten days after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, and prosecutors later alleged that an official forged the expert opinion used to justify the move.

What followed was a criminal investigation that led to indictments last December of Culture Minister Nikola Selaković and other officials over alleged wrongdoing connected to the site — allegations that Selaković denies. The case has since placed a Trump-branded development at the center of criminal proceedings in a European capital, even as the company whose name the tower was meant to carry says it was never involved.

Kushner's company subsequently backed out of the project. A representative for Trump's business told The Guardian: "The Trump Organization has no plans to develop any project in Belgrade, was never, at any point, involved in any discussions or negotiations to acquire any site in Belgrade and denies any involvement in or knowledge of the alleged claims."

"We have lost an exceptional investment," Vučić said after the project collapsed, before threatening to hold accountable those responsible.

The investigation also found that the February 2024 meeting involving Vučić is absent from the indictment, even though prosecutors acknowledged having evidence about it. A spokesperson for the prosecution said investigators are examining whether other people could be held criminally liable.

Vučić and Mali have not been charged and claim they have done nothing wrong. Neither Trump nor Kushner has been charged with a crime in the case.

The case now hangs over Serbia's October 25 election, with the hearing of a key witness postponed until after voters have cast their ballots — meaning the case's next scheduled step falls just after the campaign concludes. The project's abandonment has fueled additional anti-corruption protests across Serbia and now presents the Trump family with a new legal problem in its global business plans.