Former New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, once vilified by Donald Trump as a druggie and joke unworthy of wearing the pinstripes, is now a key part of an investment group seeking to buy the rights to the ex-presidents marquee Washington, D.C., hotel, people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

A-Rods involvement in the $375 million deal, which could close within weeks, would make the athlete-turned-entrepreneur an unlikely financial savior for Trump, allowing him to recoup millions he invested and perhaps even emerge with a profit from his money-losing hotel.

This is just more proof that the only thing that matters to Trump is money, said Trump biographer Michael DAntonio. If A-Rod can bail out Trump and get him out of a sticky situation and help him turn a profit, hes going to take that deal. Hed take it from Hillary Clinton.

While published reports late last year identified the buyer as Miami-based CGI Merchant Group, the rights to lease the 263-room property near the White House are actually being purchased by a fund led by CGI that includes Rodriguez as a general partner, two people familiar with the deal told the AP. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deal, declined to detail Rodriguezs stake other than to say he is a key investor.

One of the sources identified the fund as the $650 million Hospitality Opportunity Fund that CGI, Rodriguez and New York real estate financier Adi Chugh set up in late 2020 to buy hotels with plunging valuations due to coronavirus shutdowns and rebrand them as a collection of socially conscious and eco-friendly properties.

But the Trump International Hotel in Washington may not be such a bargain. If the deal is finalized at the currently offered price of $375 million, much higher than experts expected, it could allow Trump to emerge with a profit after losing tens of millions of dollars on the hotel even as it became a magnet for lobbyists, diplomats and GOP supporters.

Taking in $375 million would more than make up for the $200 million Trumps company put into renovating the historic, federally-owned Old Post Office building into a luxury hotel after signing a lease with the General Services Administration in 2012, as well as the $70 million that a congressional oversight committee says the hotel lost during Trumps four years in office.

Real estate experts say a more realistic price in the current Washington market would be $1 million per room, or about $260 million. But hotel brokers, consultants and other experts AP contacted say determining a fair value for this particular property is exceedingly difficult, in part because its a lease being sold. Also, the only name over the door since it opened more than five years ago has been Trumps and there is no telling how many guests might come in once those divisive five letters are removed.

Rodriguez, reached through his spokesman Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Trump Organization. CGI and Surya Capital, the hospitality funds third partner run by Indian-born investor Chugh, declined to comment. The GSA, which must approve any transfer of the lease, also did not respond to a request for comment.