Politics pays: Donald Trump is now worth about $5 billion, with his social-media venture accounting for more than half that sum.

Donald Trump, who has long tried to suggest he has little to do with the operations of his business empire, retains power over the trust that holds his assets, according to a filing his business submitted to British regulators last month.

The document, titled “notice of individual person with significant control,” identifies Donald John Trump, born in June 1946, as someone with influence over Golf Recreation Scotland Limited, the entity through which the president holds Trump Turnberry, a golf resort that hosted four British Opens before Trump purchased it in 2014.

A more detailed section of the filing, labeled “nature of control,” specifies that “the person has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over the activities of a trust.” The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust holds Golf Recreation Scotland Limited and, via a web of additional entities, virtually every other asset in Donald Trump’s empire. By stating that Trump has control over the trust, his business appears to admit that Trump maintains a grip on his entire empire.

The “nature of control” section goes on to describe the role of the trust’s designated trustee or trustees, during Trump’s first term his son Don Jr. and executive Allen Weisselberg (with Eric Trump serving as chairman of the advisory board of the trust). “The trustees........

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