Donald Trump once gifted his best friend diamond Bulgari cuff links. They turned out to be knockoffs.

Donald Trump once gifted his lawyer a pair of Bulgari diamond cuff links –– which were later found to be knockoffs.

(Image credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

published 20 June 2016

For 13 years, one of Donald Trump's "closest friends" was Roy Cohn, the lawyer who helped condemn Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair and worked as Sen. Joe McCarthy's legal aide during the Red Scare's infamous communist hearings. Being Trump's friend, naturally, has its perks — such as when Trump rewarded Cohn for legal help with "a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box," The New York Times reports.

At least, one would assume this is the kind of perk a mentor and friend of Trump would have. But after Cohn's death in 1986, his partner was in for a rude awakening:

[Cohn's lover, Peter Fraser,] inherited all of Mr. Cohn's possessions: the townhouse, his weekend place in Greenwich, Conn., his Rolls-Royce, his private plane, and much more. But the Internal Revenue Service, collecting on Mr. Cohn's tax debts, confiscated nearly everything.He did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said. [The New York Times]

Hey, even when you're worth $10 billion, money doesn't grow on trees!

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.