william ganz knew it was a big investment but with the donald involved he felt certain he would strike gold it was may 23 2007 and the 28yearold baltimorebased entrepreneur was preparing to invest his life savings in trump farallon estates at cap cana a luxury development being planned by local developers in the dominican republic and championed by his famously gilded business idol donald j trump ganz had read every one of the real estate moguls books and even auditioned for a spot on the apprentice so when trump called the project a fantastic opportunity ganz believed him the trump brand he said brought the project instant credibility the same day buildable lots in the clifftop resort went on sale ganz and dozens of other buyers bought out 95 percent of the development snapping up more than 350 million in property as trump described it in videos and in person there would be a condominiumhotel a beach club private villas and a world class golf course but the development never took root a failure some blamed on the 2008 financial crash after investing years of work his savings gone and his spirit broken ganz left his island dream behind the air was out of the balloon he said for ganz and the scores of others who lost millions on the trump farallon development that should have been the end of the story but shortly after trump took the white house trumps son was back in cap cana the developer issued a surprise announcement in february 2017 releasing a smiling photo of eric trump on the bluffs of the dominican coast emerald waters at his back this relationship remains incredibly strong especially with eric who has led the project since its inception the developer announced cap cana developers ricardo and fernando hazoury welcomed eric trump to the dominican republic in february 2017 and posted a photo on their website to mark the occasion capcanacom news of what the trump organization was describing as a new phase of trump farallon never reached the projects original buyers according to those interviewed by abc news using records made public in court documents abc news located 48 of the original property owners from the trumpbranded cap cana resort a quarter of those agreed to talk about their experience though most spoke only on the condition they not be identified many who did speak said they still felt stung by the failed investment like mariano gonzalez a puerto rican doctor who had pooled a big chunk of his life savings along with two friends to invest 3 million in land atop the scenic cliffs overlooking the turquoise caribbean waters we were betrayed gonzalez told abc news nothing was done and everything was lost my main message is give me back my money one reason gonzalez and others were so surprised to hear of eric trumps return to cap cana was because it seemed like it had all ended so badly in a blistering