Such altruism, even if it is Trump’s priority, is unlikely to immunize him from at least the appearance of conflicts. As is well known, his daughter, Ivanka, who recently announced that she was resigning from her own company, sat in on a meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in November while her brand was negotiating a licensing deal with a Japanese company backed by the country’s government. Trump has urged Scottish officials not to build wind turbines on its coast, which would have a negative impact on the views at his local golf club. As the Times reported, a Trump real-estate project is being developed in India by a company with close ties to a local political party.

There is also the issue of the Emoluments Clause in the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits a president from accepting gifts or payment from foreign governments or officials. Now, of course, that could play out with any of the aforementioned properties or in any of the 20 or so countries in which the Trump Organization currently has dealings. It could also play out much closer to the White House. Just five blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump and his children swung open the doors at the big Old Post Office Building last fall, rebranded with a fresh coat of gold paint as the Trump International Hotel in D.C. Two days before the election, when I visited the hotel, the initial room rates had been slashed by at least $200, just a few weeks after opening. Post-election, the hotel is booked. The bar raised its drink prices, and foreign diplomats have reportedly opted to do business there instead of nearby properties in order to potentially curry favor with the president-elect.

The lease for the hotel comes with problems of its own, too. When Trump signed the 60-year lease for the building, which is owned by the Government Services Administration, it stipulated, “no … elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.” The G.S.A. has said it has not yet determined what will happen with the lease, if anything, once Trump takes office. Trump, though, does get to appoint a new head of the G.S.A.—an agency that will fall under his purview as president, technically making him his landlord’s boss. (He will also get to appoint a new head of the I.R.S. Incidentally, Trump is currently being audited by the agency, as we all know by now, since this is the reason he has repeated for not being able to release his tax returns.)

In more incidental connections, Trump also owes more than $300 million to Deutsche Bank, some of which he has personally guaranteed, and $170 million of which he took out to finish the Washington hotel. Deutsche Bank is currently under investigation by the Justice Department—another agency under the president’s arm of power. The fate of that investigation will be controlled by the attorney general, who, again, will be headed by a Trump appointee.

It is not fair to only single out Deutsche Bank. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump businesses’ debts are held by more than 150 institutions, many of which bought it once it was sliced and diced and repackaged into bonds. This gives these 150 institutions, which all reportedly own a piece of Trump, an appearance of influence over the president-elect. Under a certain light, it could look as though they could be able to call in favors, skirt regulation, or treat Trump’s businesses differently in the kind of favors or lends it would offer it. Because he hasn’t released his tax returns, the possibility of other financial entanglements—such as debts to foreign lenders—remains unknown.