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Gordon Sondland is a key witness in the Trump impeachment inquiry — and the founder of a boutique luxury hotel chain. Here's how the US ambassador to the EU made his fortune of at least $78 million.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, is testifying before Congress today as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
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Gordon Sondland , the US ambassador to the European Union, has become a key figure in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

In his testimony before Congress on Wednesday, Sondland said that Trump engaged in a quid pro quo with Ukraine by conditioning military aid and a White House meeting on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky carrying out the investigations he wanted into the Biden family.

Sondland, who had no prior diplomatic experience before Trump nominated him as the ambassador to the EU in May 2018, began his career in commercial real estate in Seattle. He founded a chain of luxury hotels called Provenance Hotels , which has 14 locations in cities like Portland, Seattle, Boston, Palm Springs, and New Orleans.

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In financial disclosures to the State Department earlier this year, Sondland reported assets worth between $78 million and $185million . Sondland's attorney did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment for this story.

Here's a look at the background and finances of the 62-year-old diplomat.

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SEE ALSO: 23 photos show the key moments of Trump's impeachment so far

DON'T MISS: Meet the latest actor in the whirlwind Ukraine inquiry: hotelier turned ambassador Gordon Sondland

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