TV star and developer Donald Trump tells his Tea Party followers the nation needs a President who is a "winner, not a loser" - and he's just the guy for the job.
What he doesn't talk about is a recurring pattern of Trump companies filing for bankruptcy to dodge creditors and distance him from business failure.
When his Trump casinos filed for Chapter 11 in 2009, Trump claimed he had nothing to do with the gaming halls.
Documents tell a different tale: then and now, he's listed as an owner on the casino's license.
GOP heavyweight Karl Rove called Trump's presidential aspirations "a joke," and the White House called them a "sideshow."
That hasn't stopped him. He won hearty Tea Party applause at an April 16 rally in Boca Raton, Fla., by portraying himself as a master businessman whose financial prowess qualifies him to lead the free world.
"We need people that win. We don't need people that lose all the time," he told the crowd. "I've beaten many people and companies, and I've won many wars. I ... earned many, many billions of dollars. It's both a scorecard and an acknowledgment of certain abilities."
Over the years, that scorecard hasn't looked so hot.
In the last 20 years, Trump's companies have sought protection from creditors to avoid financial collapse at least three times.
By 1990, Trump's multiple enterprises amassed debts of $4 billion, including $975 million he guaranteed. Trump won a loan restructuring deal in June 1991 after negotiations with creditors.
As part of that deal, Trump kept three casino properties in New Jersey, along with the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and a then-undeveloped West Side tract.
He also was allowed to keep the commercial space at Trump Tower on Fifth Ave., and Trump Palace condo tower on Third Ave.
He had to give up the Trump Shuttle airline, a 49% stake in the Grand Hyatt Hotel, his 282-foot yacht, a 27% stake in the retail store Alexander's and commercial space at Trump Parc on Central Park South, records show.
Around the same time, he was renegotiating debt on the Taj Mahal and at least one other Atlantic City casino. The Taj entered bankruptcy in July 1991, and emerged a few months later with bondholders getting 50% of the property.
By 1995, Trump righted his financial ship, trimming his guaranteed debt to $70 million and completely paying off some creditors.
His lifestyle had improved markedly since the dark days when creditors put him on a $450,000 monthly allowance. In 1995, his salary from the Trump Plaza was $1 million and he once again owned a jet.
In 1999, when Trump was toying with a presidential run under the Reform Party banner, the Daily News estimated the value of his empire at $1.4 billion.
Trump defends the bankruptcies as a smart business practice used by many of the nation's big-name entrepreneurs, like Carl Icahn and Henry Kravis.
"We're ... using the laws to our advantage," Trump said. "That shouldn't be embarrassing. That should be smart.
"When I explain it to people, they get it, but a lot of people don't know. They say, 'Oh, Trump filed for bankruptcy.' It's not personal. It's just business."
It's a tactic he's kept using.
By 2004, Trump was staring at bankruptcy again. Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, the company that ran his casinos declared Chapter 11.
The bankruptcy followed eight years of losses and $1.8 billion in debt.
In a deal with the firm's bondholders, Trump reduced his stake in the company from 56% to 27%. The bondholders wound up with 65%.
Then in February 2009, Trump Entertainment again sought bankruptcy protection. Days before the public filing, Trump quit as chairman of the board after the board rejected his offer to buy the company and take it private.
The night of the filing, Trump told Fox News: "I have nothing to do with [the bankruptcy]. I have nothing to do with the company. I am not involved in the management of the company. I'm not on the board any longer."
The same day he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "We quit before it was filed ... I was not involved with the management of the company. It represents less than 1% - substantially less than 1% of my net worth and has for quite some time ...
"The one bad thing is, it has got my name on it, which I'm not exactly thrilled about."
When the casinos emerged from bankruptcy, Trump's ownership share in the casinos dropped from 25% to 5% with an option to buy 5% more. In exchange, his name stays on the casinos.
Because he still has an ownership stake in the three casinos, his name remains on the license as a co-owner, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission says.
"He is an individual who must be found qualified for those licenses to be issued," said commission spokesman Dan Heneghan.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/24/2011-04-24_his_hairy_finances_bankruptcies_whittle_away_trump_rep_as_great_bizman.html
