Membership at Mar-a-Lago has long been regarded as a direct connection to its owner, former president Donald Trump. For new members, this privilege is about to become significantly more expensive.
During a Bloomberg Businessweek interview, Trump discussed various topics—from his line of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to considerations for JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon as Treasury Secretary, and defending Taiwan. He briefly mentioned the membership cost at his Palm Beach, Florida, club.
According to Trump, when Mar-a-Lago opened in 1994, the initial membership fee was $25,000. This fee increased to $200,000 but was reduced by half in 2012 due to the Bernie Madoff scandal that affected many wealthy residents of Palm Beach. By 2017, shortly after Trump’s presidential inauguration, the fee had reverted to $200,000 and has continued to climb.
Bernd Lembcke, the long-time manager of Mar-a-Lago, revealed that the membership fee now starts at $700,000—over triple the cost during Trump’s early presidential years. In October, a month before the polls, the fee will increase by another $300,000.
“In October, we are going up to $1 million [per membership] because we have four memberships to sell, so we are not desperate,” Lembcke stated.
Annual dues have been reported to be just under $20,000, with total memberships capped at 500.
Mar-a-Lago, sometimes referred to as the “Winter White House” during Trump’s presidency, has served as an essential meeting point for the influential and wealthy to connect with Trump.
“The Mar-a-Lago club has turned into a pay-for-access club to the president, who has limited knowledge of governmental policy,” said Robert Weissman, president of the pro-transparency group Public Citizen, in 2019.
During Trump’s presidency, he planned to deport Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party wanted by Beijing. However, when informed that Wengui was a Mar-a-Lago member, Trump canceled the deportation. Wengui was later convicted of massive fraud by a U.S. jury on Tuesday.
Several Mar-a-Lago members were appointed to ambassadorial positions by Trump, including ambassador to South Africa, handbag designer Lana Marks, and Robin Bernstein, who became ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Trump’s dentist, Albert Hazzouri, once wrote him a note on Mar-a-Lago stationary addressing him as “King” and promoting a proposal related to veteran’s care, which Trump forwarded to his secretary of veteran affairs.
The club has also been at the center of numerous national security concerns, including a dismissed case over Trump storing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
In 2017, when Trump met with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the club, photos were taken of them discussing national security topics in front of other diners. Club members captured images of the leaders using flashlights to read documents and overheard Trump on his cellphone.
Furthermore, at least two women have been arrested or accused of trespassing on the club’s property. Yujing Zhang, a 33-year-old woman from Shanghai, was arrested in 2019 for trespassing and was found with multiple cellphones, a laptop, a thumb drive, and an external hard drive.