He calls himself the Turkish Trump. The real estate developer says he chases deals across former Soviet republics, Central America and Africa. He boasts of advising government leaders around the world and teams up with foreign investors whose names he won't reveal.

He is Mukemmel "Mike'' Sarimsakci, an admirer of President Donald Trump. And he is ready to help launch the Trump Organization's new Scion brand with a hotel in downtown Dallas.

But in teaming up with Sarimsakci, the Trump family business has chosen a man with a checkered business history and murky international ties who is prone to floating big plans for projects that don't always materialize, a Dallas Morning News investigation found.

Sarimsakci and his businesses have been sued dozens of times for unpaid bills and once for late tax payments. One of his companies is facing a lawsuit that contends he owes $175,000 to a business operated by former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith.

The Turkish-born Sarimsakci, who lives near San Francisco, says he doesn't have "financial and/or legal difficulties.'' Through his company, Alterra, Sarimsakci has successfully overseen multimillion-dollar upgrades to one downtown Dallas building and has another renovation underway.

While it's not uncommon for construction projects to encounter legal problems, experts say established commercial developers don't usually have trouble paying their property taxes on time.

Sarimsakci's track record is likely to get an unusual level of scrutiny as Americans wonder who the president's sons, now in charge of the Trump Organization, do business with.

Because President Trump has refused to divest his ownership in his companies, some ethics experts have warned that his business ventures — especially those involving foreign interests — could conflict with his presidential responsibilities. The administration might favor policies that benefit Trump investors and partners, but the public wouldn't be able to tell because of the secrecy cloaking the world of real estate and investments.

"Any investor, foreign or domestic, who is unknown creates a potential conflict that the American people can't know about,'' said Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The group sued Trump in January, alleging he already has violated the Constitution by receiving cash through his hotels from foreign guests.

The White House did not immediately comment. Trump has hired a lawyer to advise his companies on how to avoid conflicts.

In recent weeks, Sarimsakci has repeatedly told reporters that investors from Turkey, Kazakhstan and Qatar were investing in the Dallas Scion project.

But after The News asked him to identify these investors, he said Thursday that the money for the project will come only from him and his two U.S. partners.

From Turkey to Texas

The News caught up with Sarimsakci, 50, by phone in February, after word spread that the Trump Organization planned to do business with him. Sarimsakci said he was in Istanbul and was too busy traveling to meet, but later answered questions about his career and background by email.

Like his idol, Sarimsakci projects an image of wealth and power.

A natty dresser who favors pocket squares, he tweets pictures of himself lighting up cigars after deals. He posts photos of his properties, noting one was inspired by "great wine and colder beer." He says he enlists a Feng Shui master to do a "spiritual energy audit" on his buildings.

The biography on his company's website boasts of superior returns on investments, turning "$1 million to $5 million in 5 years.'' It also displays photos of properties he says he built in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

He's recently joined a new business consulting service called Dūcō Experts — founded by a former adviser on Middle East policy to the Obama administration — charging nearly $500 an hour for his advice.

And he's got political ambitions.

"My ultimate goal is to become a U.S. senator,'' he said.

Growing up in Istanbul, Sarimsakci said, he loved the family construction business. Relatives called him "Perfect Cowboy" because his first name means "perfect" in Turkish, and he obsessed over Westerns — and Texas — as a little boy.

After attending high school in Turkey, he and younger brother Yusuf left home to get engineering degrees from Colorado State and Stanford universities.

The Alto 211 building on North Ervay Street in downtown Dallas was renovated by Mike Sarimsakci's company. (Ron Baselice/Staff Photographer)

The brothers do business together, according to corporate records. Sarimsakci initially told The News that Yusuf was a partner in the Scion project but later said his brother would not be investing. Yusuf could not be reached for comment.

Yusuf was the managing director for a company that developed Moscow's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which made news recently when an uncorroborated intelligence dossier claimed Russia spied on Trump there during a 2013 stay. Yusuf moved to Kazakhstan in 2006 to work for the same developer and later started a business in Turkey, Mike Sarimsakci said.

After college, Sarimsakci married and stayed in Northern California to be near his wife's family, he said. He worked for various construction firms and traveled abroad before starting a chain of furniture stores in the San Francisco area.

Sarimsakci told The News that the family closed the chain so his wife could become a full-time mother. But court records show financial problems. Customers sued for undelivered furniture. Credit card companies clamored for tens of thousands of dollars.

Sarimsakci declined to comment on individual legal cases, citing confidentiality agreements or pending litigation. But he said "all the sold furniture was delivered'' and that the stores successfully served 45,000 clients.

In one case, his lawyer went unpaid, according to 2008 California court records. A furniture designer had threatened to sue Sarimsakci, saying his stores sold knockoffs of its designs.

Attorney Roy Gordet said he agreed to help Sarimsakci: "He's got some credentials. And he's a smooth talker."

Gordet had to sue to try to get over $4,000 in legal fees, but Sarimsakci "never paid a dime," Gordet said in an interview.

In 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle sued Sarimsakci to try to recover more than $350,000 it said he owed on a contract for newspaper ads, according to court records. The case eventually settled.

The same year, a North Carolina furniture maker came calling for its cash and tried hard to get it. The company alleged in a lawsuit that Sarimsakci's company didn't pay for goods. A judge ordered the business to pay $36,000 and issued an arrest warrant for Sarimsakci when he didn't show up for a hearing.

After trying three times to serve the warrant, the San Mateo County sheriff's office gave up. A lawyer for the furniture company said the judgment was never paid. The warrant is no longer active.

California dreaming

Around the time the sheriff's office was searching for him, Sarimsakci started to delve into real estate.

"My biggest entrance to the US real estate market was the purchase of 351 California Building during the financial crisis," he wrote in an email, referring to a historic building in downtown San Francisco. "Very complex transaction."

"The industry thought we were a bunch of crazy Turks," he wrote, but the value of the building has since soared.

At the time, Sarimsakci was managing director for Polidev International, a U.S. branch of the Turkish construction giant Polimeks, which put up the money for the deal.

"I was not a partner," he wrote, adding that he wished he "negotiated better for myself."

A Polidev deal brought him to Dallas. Sarimsakci swept into town in 2011 to help the company buy one of the city's most distressed landmarks — the empty 52-story First National Bank Tower, once the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

Sarimsakci touted to city officials a plan for a $125 million renovation of the downtown structure. But the project never happened, Sarimsakci left Polidev, and the company sold the building.

He found some success with smaller projects. He formed a new company that soon bought two historic properties on Ervay Street in downtown Dallas — the former Butler Brothers warehouse and an 18-story turquoise tower that Sarimsakci dubbed 211 Alto.

Sarimsakci is renovating the century-old Butler Brothers building, shown here in 2015. (File Photo/Staff)

Sarimsakci sought generous government subsidies, including tax credits for restoring historic properties. In 2013, his company made campaign contributions to two City Council members who were considering his application for $2 million in tax-funded grants for the Alto building.

Tennell Atkins, who sat on the city's economic development committee when he was a council member, received a $1,000 campaign contribution from Alterra four days before he and the council approved the grant. Atkins praised Sarimsakci's efforts to rejuvenate the building and told The News his vote wasn't a quid pro quo.

Vonciel Hill, a former council member whose campaign got $500 from Sarimsakci, was absent during the vote. She did not respond to a request for comment. Sarimsakci said his contributions weren't intended to win support for the tax grants.

Though the city has approved the grants, he has not yet met the conditions to receive the money.

For the Butler building, Sarimsakci has also leveraged a federal visa program that lures foreign investors by offering the chance to get a green card. More than 90 Chinese investors put almost $50 million into the project. By law, their identities are not made public.

Sarimsakci calls the Butler building — a hulking yellow structure converted into loft apartments and Marriott and Fairfield hotels that are set to open this year — his proudest project.

The Alto building, which one real estate brokerage reports is almost fully rented, houses a business incubator and other tenants.

"Both properties sat empty for 2 decades with a multitude of failed development plans,'' Sarimsakci wrote in an email, adding that he used millions of dollars to upgrade them.

In October 2015, the city and county sued his Alterra company for failing to pay about $50,000 in property taxes on the Alto building; they were paid off that December. He also made late payments on taxes for the Butler building.

Sarimsakci said the Butler property was broken up into four pieces, leading to confusion over the tax amounts due.

A new headache looms. In February, Emmitt Smith's real estate firm sued Sarimsakci's company.

E Smith Realty Partners was the leasing agent for the Alto and signed tenants for the building, according to a lawsuit filed in Dallas County. But its $175,000 commission hasn't been paid, the suit alleges. Smith's firm declined to comment, as did Sarimsakci; his company has not responded to the suit.

New hotel

If all goes as planned, the Trump Organization's first Scion hotel will rise six stories on what's now a parking lot a block from Dallas City Hall and across from a homeless shelter.

Sarimsakci said a Trump executive reached out to him almost two years ago. He said he hasn't met the president or his children.

He and his partners submitted their names to the Trump Organization for due diligence a "while back,'' Sarimsakci said. The Trumps wouldn't have time to vet other investors because he has moved up the timetable for construction, he said Thursday.

Donald Trump Jr. (left) and brother Eric are now running the president's businesses. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

He initially told The News construction would begin at the end of 2017. Now, he said, the groundbreaking will happen before the end of September. The owner of the parking lots confirmed that Sarimsakci has put down money on the land but would not say how much.

The Trump Organization hasn't confirmed any details. A spokeswoman said there is no signed agreement and declined to comment. The ethics adviser for the Trump family business also declined to comment.

In some parts of the country, recent Trump ventures have been met with rancor. Sarimsakci's plan to open a Scion hotel in St. Louis fizzled.

Protesters, angry about what Sarimsakci said was a $20 million tax break for the project, showed up at the site shouting "No Trump Tower.'' The next day, the mayor announced that Trump would not be part of the development. Sarimsakci says he has brought on another hotel partner.

The developer says he has no plans to seek tax breaks from local governments for the Dallas Scion project.

Overseas interests

Sarimsakci told The News that he and the two partners in his company are U.S. citizens and "none of us work for foreign governments or have ties to foreign governments.''

But he recently said he was "chasing a large asset'' in Panama. His online bio says he's been a guest of the Panamanian government and advised the president of Niger on real estate issues in West Africa.

Some Dallas officials aren't sure how seriously to take any of his claims, given that at least three ambitious plans he has floated for downtown failed to materialize (including a proposal to install a splash pool and other amenities on City Hall's plaza).

As for his plans for the Scion, "This is vapor," said Philip Kingston, a City Council member who has been critical of President Trump but said the city will treat the Scion proposal like any other.

"Mike has a history of putting out projects to test the viability with investors," Kingston said. "I think that might be what he's doing."