Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira was ‘loyal and hard-working’ Portuguese immigrant who ‘fell into a trap’, family and friends say

The Mar-a-Lago maintenance man and property manager who was added to Donald Trump’s indictment with classified documents on Thursday has been described as a hard-working, low-profile Portuguese immigrant whose family believes he has “fallen into a trap.”

Carlos De Oliveira, 56, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, conceal documents and lie to investigators, with the most serious charges carrying a 20-year prison sentence.

He is now on the indictment alongside Trump himself and his valet, Walt Nauta, with allegations that Trump sought to delete surveillance camera footage and wipe computer servers.

A source told DailyMail.com that Oliveira, who shared a love of golf with his boss, owned a construction company with his ex-wife and was going through bankruptcy that has since been resolved.

Oliveira’s landlord, Tiberio Almeida, said he moved from Portugal to Massachusetts and then to Florida more than 30 years ago.

Almeida said he believed Oliveira had worked at Mar-a-Lago for more than 20 years, describing him as a “very good friend” over the past three decades, and a very good neighbor.

Oliveira lives about 20 minutes north of Mar-a-Lago, in what CNN described as a middle-class townhome community in Palm Beach Gardens.

Almeida told CNN, “I’ve known Carlos for a long time. I think he’s a very, very good guy.

‘I have nothing against him. Too bad he’s in the wrong place.

‘He’s not the sort of man who would break the law. I don’t think he’s that type.’

“I hope he does the right thing. If he knows something, he must confess it.’

Raymond Brion, Oliveira’s neighbor in recent years, told CNN that he was diligent and hardworking.

Brion added, “I can’t even imagine how he could be involved in that mess.”

Oliveira’s relatives were furious when they heard the news of his indictment.

A family member told CNN that some family members “couldn’t even sleep last night with all this,” saying they all felt like he didn’t know what he was getting into, just following orders.

“He’s not familiar with how the government works here and he was probably just loyal to his boss paying his bills,” the person told CNN.

“The family feels that he has fallen into a trap.”

Oliveira started working as a clerk at Mar-a-Lago before being promoted to work on maintenance.

According to sources, he had impressed his boss by redoing ornate metalwork on doors of the property The Washington Post.

In January 2022, he was promoted to real estate manager.

Members of Trump’s inner circle told CNN he was not a familiar face.

“I’ve never heard of that person,” said a former Trump aide who regularly traveled to Mar-a-Lago.

Another Trump ally, who still goes to Mar-a-Lago, said, “I don’t know him, never met him, and hadn’t heard his name before.”

Oliveira was spotted by investigators when they obtained security camera footage from the estate in July 2022 and saw him move boxes of documents along with Nauta the previous month.

Oliveira was seen on the security camera footage talking to IT worker Yuscil Taveras.

The indictment says Taveras was asked by Oliveira to keep quiet about their discussion and to try to remove the footage and wipe the servers.

Taveras said he didn’t know if he was capable of doing that, and suggested that Oliveira ask the Trump Organization’s chief of security.

After the meeting, Oliveira “walked through the bushes at the northern edge of the Mar-a-Lago Club grounds” to meet Nauta; walked back to the Taveras IT office; then walked back to meet Nauta again at the adjacent lot.

The images were ultimately not removed and form an important part of the indictment.

When they invaded Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, he raised suspicion again.

They asked him to open a storage room: He told them he didn’t know where the key was, sources told The Washington Post, because he had given it to Secret Service agents or to staffers at the post-presidency office of Washington. Trump.

Annoyed, the FBI simply broke the lock.

The Washington Post reported that that interaction further set the tone for a series of questionable statements from Oliveira, putting him firmly on the radar of investigators.

Two weeks after the FBI raid, on August 26, 2022, Nauta contacted a Mar-a-Lago employee and told him, “Someone just wants to make sure Carlos is okay.”

The employee told Nauta that Oliveira was loyal.

Trump then called Oliveira and “told De Oliveira that Trump would get him a lawyer.”

In January 2023, Oliveira was questioned by detectives at his home, according to the indictment, and his answers made detectives even more suspicious, The Washington Post reported.

Oliveira is asked if he ever saw the boxes being moved to Mar-a-Lago, and said no – yet, according to the indictment, he “personally observed and helped with the files.”

He repeatedly said he did not remember any details – a claim that investigators found implausible.

For example, Oliveira said he had no recollection of Trump returning to Mar-a-Lago twice in mid-July 2022, which was highly unusual for the summer season.

Weeks after the interview at his home, officers confiscated his phone, people said.

He was subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury in April, and was told in a second interview that he would likely be charged.