US President Donald Trump’s younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, and her husband, Michael Boulos, spent part of their summer in the Mediterranean aboard a yacht owned by a Turkish petrochemical billionaire, according to an investigation by The New York Times.
The NYT tracked Tiffany Trump’s Instagram posts and matched backgrounds in her photographs to the Phoenix 2, a nearly 300-foot yacht, among the 100 longest in the world. The newspaper also used ship-tracking data and images of the yacht’s distinctive fixtures to confirm the match.
Industry sources identified Ercüment Bayegan and his wife, Rüya Bayegan, as the owners of the Phoenix 2. A spokeswoman for Rüya Bayegan’s company, BGN International, said she was not aboard at the time and that the Trump family’s trip had no connection to her business. It was not clear whether the Boulos family paid for the use of the yacht.
The NYT found that the Trump-Boulos family alternated between the Phoenix 2 and another vessel, the Magna Grecia, for at least 10 days. Records show the Magna Grecia is owned by a conglomerate controlled by Greek billionaire Ioannis Papalekas, who also owns a private estate on the French island of St. Marguerite that rents for up to $290,000 per week. Photographs showed Tiffany Trump and her mother, Marla Maples, spent time there during the trip.
The investigation rekindled concerns previously raised by US diplomats about a possible conflict of interests between the US government and the Trump family.
Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman and a senior advisor to President Trump, reportedly conducted sensitive oil negotiations in Libya as a US diplomat while her son and daughter-in-law vacationed on the luxury yacht whose owners are a major broker of Libyan oil.
Rüya Bayegan’s energy company, BGN International, stands to benefit from any increase in Libyan oil production, according to the NYT.
Massad Boulos is the face of the Trump administration’s diplomacy in Africa.
He campaigned for Trump’s successful presidential campaign in the 2024 general election in Arab-American communities.
Boulos has engaged in what has at times been unorthodox diplomacy in Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other regions. US officials say his actions have sparked tensions in politically sensitive areas, and some senior figures have warned him to avoid overstepping his role or appearing to blur the line between family interests and diplomacy.
The news about Tiffany Trump’s vacation on the yacht of a Turkish billionaire came at a time when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was revealed to have had a secret meeting with Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., at the Dolmabahçe working office in İstanbul “last Saturday.”
It was main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel who first brought up the claim, which was later confirmed by government officials. Özel claimed Erdoğan sought a meeting with President Trump at his meeting with Trump Jr.
In a relevant development President Trump announced Friday he will welcome Erdoğan to the White House on September 25, which will be the first visit to the White House by Erdoğan since 2019, during Trump’s first term in office.
