Steven Charles Witkoff (born March 15, 1957) is an American billionaire real estate investor, lawyer, and diplomat[1][2][3] who serves as the United States Special Envoy to the Middle East. He is the founder and chairman of the Witkoff Group. He began his career as a real estate attorney, before transitioning to property investment and development. His notable acquisitions include the Daily News Building, the Woolworth Building, 33 Maiden Lane, and the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan. Witkoff has extensive business ties in the Middle East.[4][5]
Witkoff began his career as a real estate lawyer, and became a billionaire real estate investor and developer.[13][14] In November 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that: "Peers in the real-estate world invariably describe Witkoff ... as smart, personable and a talented negotiator with a common touch."[15]
After graduating from law school in 1983, Witkoff worked for the New York City real estate law firm Dreyer & Traub, where one of his clients was Donald Trump.[6] They became friends at a New York City deli, after they had worked together on a business deal.[16]
Witkoff subsequently practiced real estate law at the New York City law firm Rosenman & Colin, through 1986.[17][18]
In 1985, he co-founded Stellar Management, partnering with fellow Dreyer & Traub real estate attorney Larry Gluck; "Stellar" is a reference to Steve and Larry; switching their careers from the practice of law to owning and managing real estate.[19][18][6][20] They purchased inexpensive apartment buildings in Washington Heights, Manhattan and the Northwest Bronx; at one point they owned 85 buildings with over 3,000 apartments.[21][19][18][6][20] He accumulated a small portfolio of buildings and in 1995, he expanded into lower Manhattan, buying several inexpensive office buildings.[6] In 1996, he secured financing from Credit Suisse First Boston for the purchase of 33 Maiden Lane, a 27-story tower designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee; the following year, he leased the top 13 floors of the building to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for a 25-year term.[22][6] A close relationship with Credit Suisse First Boston soon developed, and Witkoff purchased additional properties—typically using very little of his own money—including the landmark Daily News Building in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, designed by architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells.[6]
In 1997, Witkoff left Stellar Management, founded and became chairman and CEO of the privately held Witkoff Group headquartered in New York City, and expanded into residential construction and rehab.[23][18][6] In 1998, he and business partner Rubin Schron purchased the Woolworth Building in Tribeca for $138 million,[11] and he expanded his portfolio to include real estate purchases in Chicago, Dallas, and Philadelphia.[6] By October 1998, the Witkoff Group operated 11 million square feet of commercial and retail real estate, and held an ownership interest in 7,500 apartments and a number of land and hotel development transactions.[24] In 1998, a planned $2 billion IPO of his company was canceled due to the collapse of the real estate market, and Witkoff and Gluck dissolved their partnership, with Gluck taking the residential properties and Witkoff the office buildings.[6]
In 2013, Witkoff and Harry Macklowe purchased the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South in Manhattan for $660 million.[25] That year, Witkoff and Fisher Brothers also purchased a parcel of land in Tribeca in Manhattan for $223 million on which they built a 792-foot high residential tower, 111 Murray Street.[26]
Witkoff with US President Donald Trump, March 1, 2018
As of 2014, he owned 30 properties in the United States and in London.[27] As of 2019, the Witkoff Group owned almost 50 properties in the United States and internationally.[28]
The Witkoff Group purchased the project to build the resort and casino Fontainebleau Las Vegas for $600 million.[29][30] The property was scheduled to open in 2020 as The Drew, named after Witkoff's late son Andrew.[29] However, construction stopped in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada.[29] In February 2021, Koch Real Estate Investments purchased the property.[29] The original name was reinstated, and the hotel opened in December 2023, having been developed at a cost of $3.7 billion, making it the second-most-expensive resort in Las Vegas.[31]
On November 12, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had selected Witkoff to be his Special Envoy to the Middle East.[38][39][40]
Witkoff played a key role in negotiating a ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas in January 2025, along with Brett McGurk, President Biden's lead negotiator who invited Witkoff to join the negotiations, and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who it was agreed would be the one who would speak to Hamas.[41][42][43] His blunt, direct and aggressive negotiation style was instrumental in forging a six-week ceasefire agreement, during which there would be a swap of 33 Hamas-held hostages taken in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel for approximately 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were serving life sentences for murder, and steps toward further exchanges and ending a prolonged 15-month war.[41][43] Witkoff's approach differed from traditional diplomatic methods, as he, joined by McGurk on speakerphone from Qatar, applied pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to finalize the deal, stressing that Trump wanted the deal done, achieving in the final weeks what had been in negotiation for nearly a year.[44][45]The New York Times wrote: "It was a vivid example of cooperation between two men representing bitter political rivals. Rarely if ever have teams of current and new presidents of different parties worked together at such a high-stakes moment, with the fate of American lives and the future of a devastating war hanging in the balance."[41]
On January 29, 2025, Witkoff arrived in Israel and made a rare entry by an American official into Gaza to personally oversee the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.[46]
U.S., Saudi, and Russian officials meeting in Riyadh, February 18, 2025
Involvement in US-Russia negotiations on Ukraine
On February 11, 2025, Trump sent Witkoff to Moscow, where he met with President Vladimir Putin and was responsible for the negotiations that led to a prisoner swap and the release of U.S. citizen Marc Fogel from a Russian prison, in exchange for Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik. Witkoff said, regarding Putin and Trump, that "I think they had a great friendship, and I think now it's going to continue, and it's a really good thing for the world."[47][48]
On February 16, 2025, Witkoff rejected concerns that Ukraine and Europe would be excluded from any future peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[49] On February 18, 2025, American and Russian delegations, headed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, respectively, met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in order to develop a framework for further peace negotiations on the war in Ukraine. Rubio was accompanied by Steve Witkoff and U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.[50]
Personal life
Witkoff has lived on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.[11] In 1987, he married Lauren Jill Rappoport, who was then an associate at the Manhattan law firm of Botein, Hays & Sklar.[10] In 2019, Witkoff relocated from New York City to Florida, and settled in Miami Beach.[51]
↑ Bazail-Eimil, Eric (November 12, 2024). "Trump appoints real estate investor, golf partner as Middle East peace envoy". Politico. Retrieved February 17, 2025. Witkoff was not the only Middle East diplomat whose role Trump announced on Tuesday. Trump also announced that he was appointing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
↑ van Koningsveld, Akiva (January 27, 2025). "Hostage deal moved Trump to tears, says new US Middle East envoy Witkoff". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved February 17, 2025. The real estate mogul turned diplomat also revealed that the release of the first seven Israeli hostages since the ceasefire went into effect on January 19 brought Trump to tears.
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