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How Many Times Did Trump File Bankruptcy

Judith And Nicolas Jacobson

Donald Trump and Bankruptcy: Why has he Filed so Many Cases?

Now divorced, the Jacobsons were a married couple who previously owned a chandelier business in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 2004, Trump ordered three fixtures worth $34,000 for his Mar-a-Lago resort from them, but then refused to pay in full, saying the Jacobsons’ work was shoddy, WSJ reports. They denied this claim but facing endless legal wrangling, the couple settled.

“A review of Palm Beach County court records showed no other payment disputes involving Classic Chandeliers. The shop later closed. Mr. Jacobson died in 2015,” notes the WSJ.

Trump defends his history of payment disputes as simply the expected cost of being a tough negotiator in a cutthroat business. The WSJ article, in particular, offers Trump’s camp ample space to respond. They strongly defend the tactics as hard but fair , but the paper notes that they “stood out as particularly aggressive in the industry and in the broader business world.”

Will Trump’s treatment of contractors affect whether or not you decide to vote for him?

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Donald Trump’s Companies Filed For Bankruptcy 4 Times

Trump still touts his business sense and wealth as qualifications for president.

Donald Trump’s Bankruptcy History

Trump has built an American empire from Las Vegas to New York with towering hotels and sparkling casinos. Forbes estimates he’s worth $2.7 billion. But not all of Trump’s business ventures have been constant money-makers. In 1991, 1992, 2004, and again in 2009, Trump branded companies or properties have sought Chapter 11 protection.

“I’ve used the laws of this country to pare debt. … We’ll have the company. We’ll throw it into a chapter. We’ll negotiate with the banks. We’ll make a fantastic deal. You know, it’s like on ‘The Apprentice.’ It’s not personal. It’s just business,” Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last Thursday.

A business declaring bankruptcy is nothing new in corporate America, where bankruptcy is often sugar-coated as “restructuring debt.” But it might seem alarming to everyday Americans who can’t get a bank to restructure their home loans. If you want to get Donald Trump hot under the collar, accuse him of declaring bankruptcy.

Doug Heller, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, said Trump is the “most egregious, almost comical example” of the disparity between what the average American faces when going through bankruptcy and the “ease with which the very rich can move in and out of bankruptcy.”

“I’m a much bigger businessman. I mean, my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney’s,” Trump said.

How Many Times Has Trump Filed Bankruptcy

11th October 2016

; Filed under: News

Donald Trump running for the most coveted position in world politics; its not much of a surprise that his entire business life has come to the public spot light. In digging up his past business dealings, past bankruptcies have emerged leading us to the question: how many times has Donald Trump filed bankruptcy exactly? The answer may surprise you: its zero.;Trump has owed many businesses over the past few decades including a football team and an airline company. Many of Trumps BUSINESSES have filed for bankruptcy, he however, has not personally ever filed. In all Trumps companies have had to file for bankruptcy a total of 6 times, and 5 of those were related to his casinos.;Does Trump have the business savvy to lead the country? While we cant answer that question, we can say without much doubt that he obviously understands bankruptcy protects laws in the country. These bankruptcy laws were created to protect the consumer and creditor alike, and while making the decision to file for bankruptcy is never an easy one, it is certainly a useful vehicle to gain a second chance at financial health.

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Books By Donald Trump

Trump has written at least 15 books about business and golf. The most widely read and successful of his books is The Art of the Deal, published in 1987 by Random House. Trump receives annual royalties valued between $15,001 and $50,000 from sales of the book, according to federal records. He also receives $50,000 and $100,000 in income a year from sales of;Time to Get Tough, published in 2011 by Regnery Publishing.

Trump’s other books include:

  • Trump: Surviving at the Top, published in 1990 by Random House
  • The Art of the Comeback, published in 1997 by Random House
  • The America We Deserve, published in 2000 by Renaissance Books
  • How to Get Rich, published in 2004 by Random House
  • Think Like a Billionaire, published in 2004 by Random House
  • The Way to the Top, published in 2004 by Bill Adler Books
  • The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received, published in 2005 by Thomas Nelson Inc.;
  • The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received, published in 2005 by Random House
  • Think Big and Kick Ass, published in 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers
  • Trump 101: The Way to Success, published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons
  • Why We Want You to Be Rich, published in 2008 by Plata Publishing
  • Never Give Up, published in 2008 by;John Wiley & Sons
  • Think Like a Champion, published in 2009 by Vanguard Press

Fourth Time’s A Charm: How Donald Trump Made Bankruptcy Work For Him

Trump Tax Return Revealed Tonight 3/14/17

Trump Plaza, Atlantic City. Image via Flickr.

Here at FORBES, we’ve been tracking Donald Trump‘s wealth since the inaugural Forbes 400 rich list in 1982. Today, we value him at $2.7 billion, although he claims he’s worth far more. One question we’re often asked when talk turns to Trump’s fortune: how can a man who has been bankrupt so many times remain a multi-billionaire? How is he worth more now, post-bankruptcies? We spoke to bankruptcy lawyers and casino industry experts — some of whom have had firsthand involvement in Chapter 11 cases connected to Trump — in an attempt to explain how he has survived corporate bankruptcies and thrived in the aftermath.

1. It’s nothing personal…

First things first: Donald Trump has filed for corporate bankruptcy four times, in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009. All of these bankruptcies were connected to over-leveraged casino and hotel properties in Atlantic City, all of which are now operated under the banner of Trump Entertainment Resorts. He has never filed for personal bankruptcy — an important distinction when considering his ability to emerge relatively unscathed, at least financially.

“Corporations, limited partnerships, and LLCs in which he had an ownership interest or companies that had his name attached have filed for bankruptcy,” said Michael Viscount of Atlantic City law firm

In Presidential;Bid)

2. …it’s just business.

3. It’s better than the alternative.

4. He’s leveraged his persona.

6. He’s not the one to blame.

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Presidential Campaign Of 2016

Trump announced he was seeking the Republican presidential nomination on June 16, 2015. His speech was mostly negative and touched on themes such as illegal immigration, terrorism and the loss of jobs that would resonate throughout his campaign over the course of the election cycle.;

The darkest lines of Trump’s speech include:

  • “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody elses problems.”
  • “Our country is in serious trouble. We dont have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we dont have them.”
  • “When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
  • “Sadly, the American dream is dead.”

Trump largely funded the campaign himself.

He was criticized by many leading conservatives who questioned whether he was really a Republican. In fact,;Trump had been registered as a Democrat for more than eight years in the 2000s. And he contributed money to the campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton.;

Donald Trumps Business Failures Were Very Real

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Many of Donald Trumps tweets arent worth paying attention to, but on Tuesday morning he posted a pair that demanded inspection. Like many other people, me included, the President had apparently been reading a story in the Times that punctured the mythology surrounding his business career. Based on Internal Revenue Service transcripts of Trumps tax returns from 1985 to 1994, the Timesreport said that Trumps core businesses racked up losses of more than a billion dollars in a ten-year period. During 1990 and 1991, the story said, Trumps losses were so large that they were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.

Trump could simply have ignored the report or dismissed it as old news. But, with cable-news networks featuring it prominently, and the Daily News, one of Trumps home-town papers, running the front-page headline BIGGEST LOSER, he did what he usually does and counterattacked. This is what he wrote on Twitter:

These are significant sums, certainly. But, as the Times article points out, depreciation charges arent nearly large enough to create the massive losses that Trumps businesses incurred. Some fraction of Donald Trumps losses can be attributed to depreciation, Susanne Craig, one of the authors of the Times piece, wrote in a , responding to Trump. We found most of it was just bad business.

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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.

Inheritance And Further Acquisitions

Donald Trump Bankruptcy Math Doesnt Add Up | NBC News

In 1996, Trump acquired a vacant, 70-story office building at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, renovated it, and branded it as The Trump Building. In 1998, Conseco and Donald Trump purchased the General Motors Building for $878 million from Corporate Property Investors. The group received a $700 million loan from Lehman Brothers for the purchase and Trump reportedly only committed $15 to $20 million of his own money to the deal. Trump raised the controversial sunken plaza where few pedestrians had ventured, which had been criticized by Huxtable, and installed his name in four-foot gold letters. In 2003, Trump and partners sold the building for $1.4 billion, then the highest price paid for a North American office building, to Macklowe Organization.

After his father died in 1999, Trump and his siblings received equal portions of his father’s estate valued at $250â300 million.

In 2001, Trump completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters. Trump also began construction on Riverside South, which he dubbed Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. He continued to own commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use tower on Columbus Circle which he acquired in 1996, and also continued to own millions of square feet of other prime Manhattan real estate.

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Donald Trump Drove His Companies Into Bankruptcy Six Times

United States

Three of Trump’s properties filed for bankruptcy in 1992. Three other properties filed for bankruptcy – one at a time in 1991, 2004, and 2009.

Trump has previously claimed that he filed for bankruptcy for four of his companies. On Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention, Michael Bloomberg said that Trump had driven six of his companies into bankruptcy. We found that Bloomberg was right, and Trump filed for bankruptcy six times.

Trumps companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which means a company can remain in business while doing away with many of its debts. The bankruptcy court ultimately approves a corporate budget and a plan to repay remaining debts; often, shareholders lose much of their equity.

The Washington Post reported that Trumps Taj Mahal, which opened in April 1990 in Atlantic City, defaulted on interest payments to bondholders six months later. In July 1991, Trumps Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. He could not keep up with debts on two other Atlantic City casinos, and those two properties declared bankruptcy in 1992. A fourth property, the Plaza Hotel in New York, declared bankruptcy in 1992 after amassing debt.

NBC reported that Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts filed for bankruptcy again in 2004 when his casinos, including the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Marina and Trump Plaza casinos in Atlantic City, and a riverboat casino in Indiana. They had accrued an estimated $1.8 billion in debt.

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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.

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Atlantic City: A Good Lesson In Corporate Bankruptcy

Back in its heyday, Atlantic City was the place to be. It was glitz and glam and a money-making machine . Eventually, Atlantic City fell due to time and other factors. In the early 1990s, Donald Trump wanted to reclaim the Atlantic City that once was by building a number of casinos and lavish hotels along the famed boardwalk.

Trumps first foray into reviving Atlantic City was a disaster. His Trump Taj Mahal was financed largely by junk bonds , and the failure of the property to bring in revenue caused him to sell his Trump Shuttle Airline and Trump Princess Yacht. Since the investment that didnt pay off cost him around $900 million in-person – not corporate – debt, this was an excellent lesson for Trump.

Despite Holding Huge Assets Trump Needs Money More Than His Presidential Predecessors Ever Did But He Faces Multiple Barriers Of His Own Making

Trump Bankruptcy Math Doesn

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As Trump knows only too well, lawyers are expensive

What next for Donald Trump? World leaders dont, as a rule, go hungry upon leaving office. There are positions on corporate boards to take up, lucrative speaking engagements to be booked, handsome advances for books even if they dont sell quite as well as expected . The consulting opportunities are endless, as Tony Blair has proved. Theyre not always terribly savoury but that usually merits only passing attention.

Trump, however, is in the difficult position of needing the money more than any of his predecessors did, despite holding huge assets. He also faces barriers of his own making the insurrection he fomented the most obstructive of all to at least some of the perks former presidents typically enjoy. Many of the people who welcomed George W Bush and cut him a cheque when he wasnt painting wont want to associate with Trump.

His legal problems, meanwhile, are just beginning and legal experts consider the idea of Trump preemptively pardoning himself a non-starter. Besides, this would only cover federal, and not state, offences. ;

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