NBC correspondent Michael Isikoff looked into Trump, Inc., the Donald's sprawling business empire, and found that his claims of great business success aren't always true.
Trump hotels and casinos in Atlantic City have filed for bankruptcy protection three times. While Trump blamed market forces, he has long been chairman of the board for the casino businesses.
In his defense, Trump said he "didn't run the company." Isikoff then asked why he was paid $2 million per year to chair the board of that business. Trump replied: "Excuse me. Because I'm a genius, okay."
Trump said many different businesses license the use of his name, but he's not directly involved in their operations.
Casinos have not been the only weakness in the Trump empire. There have been many high profile bankruptcy filings, bad real estate deals, and a trail of ongoing lawsuits accusing him of bad business practices.
Another questionable move was "Trump University," an online, for-profit business education firm. The attorney general in Texas ordered him to stop using the word "university" in its title. Trump said his company was unaware of restrictions on the use of that word.
Read on.
Ah yes, The Donald.. This is from Wikipedia:
On November 2, 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel was forced to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan after being unable to make its debt payments. Under the plan, Trump agreed to give up a 49% stake in the luxury hotel to Citibank and five other lenders. In return Trump would receive more favorable terms on the remaining $550+ million owed to the lenders and retain his position as chief executive, though he would not be paid and would not have a role in day-to-day operations.
In January 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought a financial-reporting case against Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., alleging that it had committed several "misleading statements in the company's third-quarter 1999 earnings release." The matter was settled with the defendant neither admitting nor denying the charge.
Trump has been caught in the 2008 financial crisis as sales for his Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago have been lagging. Lender Deutsche Bank refused to let Trump lower the prices on the units to spur sales. Arguing that the financial crisis and resulting drop in the real estate market is due to circumstances beyond his control, he invoked a clause in the contract to not pay the loan.[36] Deutsche Bank then noted in court that 'Trump is no stranger to overdue debt' and that he has twice previously filed for bankruptcy with respect to his casino operations.
On February 17, 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
And of course in Chapter 11 bankruptcy which is mostly used for corporate entities, permits reorganization of the corporation or sole proprietorship. Trump filed Chapter 11 rather than Chapter 7 which governs the process of a liquidation bankruptcy.
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