NEW YORK -- More than a dozen Donald Trump businesses -- including golf courses, hotels, casinos and private clubs -- have been honored over the years with "Star Diamond" awards from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, a company that doles out shiny plaques representing "the most prestigious award of true excellence in hospitality."
But in Trump's case the academy isn't an independent observer -- it is run by a longtime Trump associate, Joseph Cinque, who goes by the nickname "Joey No Socks" and has a felony conviction for possessing stolen property.
Trump, who as recently as last year was listed on the group's website as its "ambassador extraordinaire," praised Joseph Cinque in a 2009 tribute video.
But asked about his relationship with Cinque now, Trump said he didn't know him that well and was unaware of Cinque's criminal conviction.
"If a guy's going to give you an award, you take it," Trump said in an interview. "You don't tend to look up his whole life story."
An AP review shows that about half of the roughly 30 American Academy of Hospitality Sciences trustees listed in the company's own press materials appear to be Trump friends and business associates.
At one point, Trump's two adult sons; the chief operating officer of the Trump Organization, Matthew Calamari; and Trump's longtime butler, Anthony Senecal, all served as trustees simultaneously.
Trump said the board members connected to the Trump Organization are likely just the recipients of honorifics.
While the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences has given awards to hotels and restaurants around the globe, including famed Manhattan restaurants Le Cirque and Jean-Georges, the company has also honored Mexican food, Poland's tourism board and Sepp Blatter, the former president of soccer's scandal-plagued governing body.
Still, the ties between Cinque and Trump appear to be close. Cinque served as a judge with Donald Trump Jr. in the 2008 Miss Universe pageant. The academy honored Donald Trump with a lifetime achievement award in 2013.
"My view is that this is primarily a marketing program," said Michael Petrone, who heads up AAA's ratings program.
A 1999 lawsuit against Cinque by a former business partner alleged award winners paid promotional fees to be named in the group's glossy publications.
A decade after that, Trump friend Stewart Rahr, a billionaire pharmaceutical wholesaler, sued Cinque and his organization, saying that they failed to publish a "man of the year" profile of his philanthropic efforts in the right issue despite being paid a $25,000 fee. A judge ruled Rahr was owed the $25,000.
One former trustee, William Hetzler said Cinque sometimes gives awards for free and sometimes charges for the honor.
Trump said that he's familiar with groups that try to sell awards as a marketing gimmick. But he said he has never paid Cinque's organization for its distinctions.
"Whoever received a reward qualified," said the woman who answered the phone at Cinque's company but refused to give her name. "Why don't you go after Hillary Clinton?"
A lawyer for the company, Stuart Perry, said that after past bad experiences with the media, he was wary about having Cinque speak with a reporter.
"The basic overall of the academy per se is dealing with five- and six-star properties," he said.
Perry is also a "trustee adviser" to the academy, as is a lawyer who represented Cinque in his failed attempts to appeal a 2008 drunken driving conviction in New Jersey.
A Section on 05/23/2016