Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing, bonus story of the week.

Today on Forbes, billionaire rented Trump Mansion as federal tax evasion case heated up.

In September 2020, a month before the Department of Justice revealed one of the biggest

tax evasion cases in U.S. history, the phone rang at the Palm Beach

Police Department. The caller was Hope Smith, the wife of private equity billionaire Robert Smith.

Mrs. Smith had taken inventory of her jewelry collection ahead of a planned move and found that a

3.63-carat diamond ring, worth $1.11 million was missing from a safe. In early August,

Forbes obtained the police report through a public records request. The report stated,

quote, Smith advised she does not recall where or when it was lost. However, it was last seen

in her Palm Beach residence in January or February of 2020.

The police report identified the residence as 1125 South Ocean Boulevard, directly next door to

President Trump's Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago. The Smiths did not own 1125 South Ocean Boulevard, but rented it, starting around the fall of

2019. Their landlord, who purchased the 10,500 square foot property a year earlier, was Donald Trump.

Smith, worth about $5 billion at the time, could well afford the estimated $65,000 per month tab.

The question is why the private equity tycoon, who has spent millions buying and renovating

homes in locales including Colorado, California, and France, rented that particular property

from that particular person. According to Smith's representative,

the investor was eager to get to Palm Beach before his kids had their first day of school,

and a previous rental had fallen through because of black mold, leading an agent to move

quickly to secure Trump's home. The situation, however, led to an unusual dynamic,

with the president renting to a man who had hidden more than $200 million from the government and was embroiled in a historic tax evasion investigation.

In a statement, Smith's spokesperson said, quote,

...