Used Law To Protect Interests
Critics have cited the Trump corporate bankruptcies as examples of his recklessness and inability to manage, but the real estate developer, casino operator, and former reality-television star says his use of federal law to protect his interests illustrates his sharp business acumen.
Trump said in August 2015:
“I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, my employees, myself and my family.
Famous People Who Have Filed For Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is something we have all heard about. Maybe we even know someone who has had to go down that road.
For some, their finances have gotten so bad that they wonder if bankruptcy is the only option left. As you consider that option, there is probably shame and fear and a huge weight on you that you have allowed it to get this bad.
You are right: bankruptcy is a last resort option and should only be taken with the determination that it is never going to happen again. You have to commit to change, no debt and even counseling, if you really want it to get fixed. It took a lot of work to get into bankruptcy and will take a lot to get out of it.
But the shame has to stop. The guilt isnt going to help you starting over, it will just keep you in the same mindset that got you trapped in the first place.
Did you know that there are a lot of famous people who have declared bankruptcy at one point or another?
Lets take a look at some celebrities who had to start over:
Kim Basinger – Oscar winner and ex-wife of Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger was forced into bankruptcy after a breach of contract lawsuit. She declared $8 million in her bankruptcy filing and was able to settle 4 years later and continue on with her acting career.
These twenty celebrities are just a few of the examples of people who have had to go through bankruptcy court. The range of debt is extreme to much more extreme.
Trump Entertainment Resorts 2009
His most recent bankruptcy came in 2009, after the company missed a $53.1 million bond payment. That was pretty much the end of the road for Trump in Atlantic City. While his name remained on three casinos, he resigned from the board and gave up his remaining stake in the company.
“I had the good sense, and I’ve gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered,” he said during the debate.
The two Atlantic City casinos that still had the Trump name filed for bankruptcy yet again in 2014. At the time Trump made sure people knew he was no longer running the company, and sued to have his name removed.
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Time Limits Apply To Discharges Not Bankruptcy Filings
Bankruptcy law doesnt set a minimum period that you must wait before filing for bankruptcy a second time. However, theres a catch. If you file too soon after wiping out debt in a previous case, you wont be eligible for another debt discharge .
Although there are times that it makes sense to file for bankruptcy even though you wont receive a discharge, these situations are rare . Because a bankruptcy filed too soon will end up being a waste of time and money in most cases, its essential to know how to time your bankruptcy filing.
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Business Career Of Donald Trump
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Donald Trump is an American businessman and television personality. He was the 45th president of the United States. He began his real estate career at his fathers company, Elizabeth Trump and Son, which he later renamed the Trump Organization. He rose to public prominence after concluding a number of highly publicized real estate deals in Manhattan, and his company now owns and licenses his name to lodging and golf courses around the world. Trump partly or completely owned several beauty pageants between 1996 and 2015. He has marketed his name to many building projects and commercial products. Trumps unsuccessful business ventures have included numerous casinos and hotel bankruptcies, the folding of his New Jersey Generals football team, and the now-defunct Trump University.
After being inaugurated as U.S. president in January 2017, Trump resigned all management roles within the Trump Organization, and delegated company management to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric. However, Trump retained his financial stake in the work document, leaving ongoing concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
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Did You Know That Donald Trump Has Declared Bankruptcy 4 Times
Donald is known for his real estate ventures, television shows and recently, political ambition. Hes come to be one of the most easily recognizable celebrities with a flashy style, iconic hairdo and straightforward manner. But did you know Trump has filed for bankruptcy four times?
And hes not the only one. Plenty of celebrities from Mike Tyson to Francis Ford Copolla have filed for bankruptcy, be it personal or corporate. It leaves us with a common conundrum: How can someone known for having so much wealth seemingly go broke so many times?
Remington: Oldest Us Gunmaker Files For Bankruptcy
The oldest gun manufacturer in the US, Remington Outdoor, has filed for bankruptcy in the wake of slumping sales.
The firm, founded more than 200 years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection to cut a deal with its creditors.
Remingtons chief financial officer said the companys sales dropped significantly in the year before its bankruptcy, court papers show.
The filing comes amid fresh demands for greater gun control in the US.
A shooting at a Florida high school in February has revived the debate on gun control, and on Saturday hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of US cities.
Some US retailers have raised the age limit for certain firearms purchases to 21 or stopped stocking semi-automatic weapons.
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The First Windfall: Inherited Wealth
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the president’s business career. The White House referred to Trump’s remarks from the podium, in which he dismissed the reporting as “fake news,” as well as Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten’s remarks to The Times, saying “most, if not all, of the facts” reported by the paper “appear to be inaccurate.”
Trump was elected to the presidency having largely run on his reality-show persona as a self-made billionaire who could run the country as he had his successful business empire.
Another major Times investigation, from 2018, reported that much of Trump’s big spending in his ’80s heyday and afterward came from inherited wealth derived from his father, Fred, also a New York City-area developer. Donald Trump pocketed more than $400 million from Fred Trump’s real-estate empire, starting when he was a toddler, per The Times. More specifically, he was making $200,000 a year in 2018 dollars when he was 3 years old, and he became a millionaire at age 8. Trump had long claimed that he grew a $10 billion empire out of a $1 million loan from his father that he repaid with interest.
Personal Vs Business Bankruptcy
Theres an important distinction to be made. Trump has never actually filed for personal bankruptcy. Instead, four of his businesses have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Taj Mahal was the first in 1991 and was followed by the Trump Plaza Hotel the next year. After over 10 years of general stability, the Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts filed in 2004 and the Trump Entertainment Resorts in 2009.
Trump claims his personal finances were only involved in the Taj Mahal Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. This is the reason Trump has been able to come out on top after multiple filings. Not involving his personal finances in the corporations operations protected his own bank account from total ruin.
Trump understands the difference between business and personal bankruptcies quite well. If you run your own business, its important that you do too.
Business Bankruptcy:
Filed by a business or an individual in the case that business-related debts cannot be paid. Corporations and partnerships, in which the entities are separate from the owners, may file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Sole proprietorships, in which the owner is legally responsible for business-related debts, may file for Chapter 7, Chapter 11 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Personal Bankruptcy:
Filed by an individual in the case that personal debts cannot be paid. Individuals typically file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
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The 2nd Windfall: The Apprentice
After the turn of the 21st century, Trumps starring role in The Apprentice was his next big windfall, providing him with $197.3 million from 2000 to 2018, per The Times. This figure expands even further when factoring in endorsements and licensing deals that traded off his Youre fired! image.
Trump still filed two corporate bankruptcies during this era in 2004 and 2009 but his assets struggles were largely hidden behind the opaque wall of the Trump Organization as Deutsche Bank grew to become his main lender, loaning him $2 billion over the next two decades, per The Times.
Instances of deceptive accounting have arisen in lawsuit claims or in reporting similar to The Times, such as the Washington Post reporter David Fahrentholds Pulitzer-winning work on the Trump Foundation. Fahrenthold reported that the foundation, ostensibly a charity, ran on few of Trumps own dollars and that Trump had used funds from it to settle legal disputes.
The Times concluded in its recent analysis that Trump had largely spent on golf courses in recent years that these assets lose millions, or tens of millions, a year and that his revenue from The Apprentice and licensing deals had been withering away.
Since 2000, The Times found, Trump has lost $315.6 million from his 15 golf courses in the US, Scotland, and Ireland, including $162.3 million in losses on his National Doral golf resort in Miami from 2012 to 2018 and $63.6 million on his three European golf courses.
Donald J Trump Foundation
The Donald J. Trump Foundation was a U.S.-based private foundation established in 1988 for the initial purpose of giving away proceeds from the book Trump: The Art of the Deal by Trump and Tony Schwartz. The foundation’s funds mostly came from donors other than Trump, whose last personal contribution to the charity was in 2008. The top donors to the foundation from 2004 to 2014 were Vince and Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment, who donated $5 million to the foundation after Trump appeared at WrestleMania in 2007.
Per the foundation’s tax returns, its benefactors included healthcare and sports-related charities, as well as conservative groups. In 2009, for example, the foundation gave $926,750 to about 40 groups, with the biggest donations going to the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation , the New York Presbyterian Hospital , the Police Athletic League , and the Clinton Foundation .
A 2018 suit by the New York State attorney general alleged that Trump had illegally used foundation funds to buy self-portraits, pay off his businesses’ legal obligations, and boost his presidential campaign. The judge ruled against the Donald J. Trump Foundation and ordered Trump to pay $2 million in damages. Trump agreed to give that money and the foundation’s remaining $1.8 million to 8 charities ranging from Army Emergency Relief to the United Negro College Fund to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and to dissolve the foundation.
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The Backstory On Donald Trump’s Four Bankruptcies
NEW YORK — Donald Trump has never declared bankruptcy, but his businesses have — four times.
The real estate mogul, television star and Republican presidential frontrunner filed for corporate bankruptcy in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009. Three of the cases were related to his casino and hotel properties in Atlantic City, N.J.
And even though more than six years have passed since Trump had his last run-in with Chapter 11, it remains a touchy subject. Trump was quick to clarify at the Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News in August that he had never filed for personal bankruptcy. Instead, he cast his moves as part of his solid business acumen.
“Out of hundreds of deals — hundreds — on four occasions, I’ve taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people,” he said. “The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, it’s like, ‘Oh, Trump, Trump, Trump.’ The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I’m very proud of the job I did.”
A Trump spokesman said many of the filings occurred when Trump was no longer involved in the businesses, blaming them on the declining casino market in Atlantic City. “It’s not fair to judge anyone of his success, and the empire that he’s built, on a particular investment without also looking at all of the great success he’s had,” he said.
1991, Trump Taj Mahal
1992, Plaza Hotel
Lafayette Square Protester Removal And Photo Op
On June 1, 2020, federal law enforcement officials used batons, rubber bullets, pepper spray projectiles, stun grenades, and smoke to remove a largely peaceful crowd of protesters from Lafayette Square, outside the White House. Trump then walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church, where protesters had set a small fire the night before he posed for photographs holding a Bible, with senior administration officials later joining him in photos. Trump said on June 3 that the protesters were cleared because “they tried to burn down the church and almost succeeded”, describing the church as “badly hurt”.
Religious leaders condemned the treatment of protesters and the photo opportunity itself. Many retired military leaders and defense officials condemned Trump’s proposal to use the U.S. military against anti-police brutality protesters. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General , later apologized for accompanying Trump on the walk and thereby “creat the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
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He Ignores Warnings And Overshoots
Trump was not aware of when to stop in Atlantic City, which led him into serious trouble. He bought the Plaza and Castle, his first two casinos. As Atlantic City casinos grew, profit margins plummeted, massive, and the market became saturated.
Experts warned Trump that he was a considerable over spender when he made his purchases.$820 million of debt. In the late 1980s, the Taj Mahal was built. Trump ignored them and focused on his optimistic assumptions.
After 16 months of the grand opening, the casino was experiencing cash flow problems and declared bankruptcy in 1991. Trump might have been content with his first two casinos and not had to file for bankruptcy in his entire career.
Trumps fear-mongering, slander and other unregulated excesses as president have been his most unregulated. Trump could have used the support of the working-class voters, libertarian businesspeople and others to win by adopting pragmatic policies that make him appear like a problem-solver.
Instead, Trump has relentlessly bullied his critics and blamed immigrants and civil-rights activists for getting in his way. Trump refused to take aggressive measures to stop the coronavirus spread, despite being advised by public-health experts. Instead, he tried to convince the public that everything was fine.
Trumps coalition now seems to be shrinking rather than expanding, as his support among women, seniors, and other key voting blocs crumble.
Personal Vs Corporate Bankruptcy
One point of clarification: Trump has never filed personal bankruptcy, only corporate bankruptcy related to some of his business interests. I have never gone bankrupt, Trump has said.
Here is a look at the six Trump corporate bankruptcies. The details are a matter of public record and have been widely published by the news media and even discussed by Trump himself.
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Trump Never Loses Another Chance
Despite his many missteps, Trump has always rebounded and found new ways to pursue his interests. Trump shifted his business from developing projects to licensing and management deals after he had failed in the 1990s.
Trumps star rose to new heights when he was made a reality TV star as The Apprentice even though his casino business went bankrupt twice more. He capitalized on his fame to run for President in 2016, defeating two political dynasties, the Clinton and Bush families, on his way to becoming the White House.
Even if he loses in democrats2020 and experiences the same embarrassing setback as his hotel or casino failures, Trump will still be there. Trump has an extraordinary gift for selling that leads to more deals, sometimes with ex-partners who have reacted negatively to him but then warmed to him again.
Trump sued Deutsche Bank in 2008 to get some of his loan payments back. He was trying to sell condos in his Chicago tower. After two years of legal battles, the two sides settled, and Deutsche Bank began lending Trump money again in 2011. Trump likely hopes that 2020 voters will be equally forgiving.
Trump: Good Or Bad Business Record
So how are we to rate Donald Trumps business acumen in relative terms? Is the cautious businessman who minimizes risk, rarely fails, and shows a moderate return better than the brash businessman who often takes on highly risky pursuits, strikes out a lot, but also hits his share of grand slams? Thats too subjective a question for us to answer, and the few numbers offered in this trope arent very informative.
Its an oft-cited statistic that Donald Trump has 515 companies, but a number of those businesses are only connected to him in tangential ways and arent owned or directly controlled by him.
Its also an oft-cited statistic that about 80-90% of businesses fail within the first year to eighteen months, but such numbers typically refer to startups and small businesses, while much of Donald Trumps business empire involves expanding and building on existing large business lines and ventures.
The most important takeaway from this trope might be that you cant sum up the world of big business. much less any presidential candidates qualifications, with a couple of numbers devoid of explanation or context.
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