Trump’s Middle East Envoy Has Prior Ties to Oil-Rich Nations There

Steven Witkoff, the billionaire New York real estate executive whom President-elect Donald J. Trump has named as his special envoy to the Middle East, was in a jam.

The year was 2018 and Mr. Witkoff’s co-investor in a Manhattan hotel project had been indicted by the Justice Department on fraud charges. A plan to convert the hotel into luxury condominiums was also on hold. But there was a two-part rescue of sorts from the kind of real estate angels that New York property investors have increasingly turned to.

First, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund expanded its stake in the troubled hotel, Park Lane, which sits at the southern edge of Central Park. Then, in an even more crucial move, the Qatar Investment Authority last year dispatched $623 million as a leveraged buyout of Mr. Witkoff and his partners.

The transactions — involving two oil-rich sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East — are a hint of the enormous flow of dollars pouring into U.S. real estate firms from entities associated with countries like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

For Mr. Witkoff, it will create complications as he takes up his new job and will soon be negotiating with leaders of nations that are past, and potentially future, lenders to or buyers of his family real estate projects.

Mr. Witkoff, who did not respond to requests for comment, has not indicated whether he intends to step down from his post as chairman and co-chief executive of Witkoff Group, which he runs with his son Alex Witkoff.