This time The Donald was only a belligerent bystander. Even the billionaire activist investor couldn’t save the ship, however, and Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy again last year. This time the process resulted in Trump himself stepping away from the properties as his lenders, led by Carl Icahn, took over. That burden led to another bankruptcy in 2004– the first as a collective company –and another renaming, to Trump Entertainment.įast-forward to 2009 when the global recession triggered Trump’s fourth trip through Chapter 11. Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts kept the debt of its three New Jersey properties (including the Trump Marina, now known as the Golden Nugget) in separate silos and was eventually forced to use multiple private placements to refinance $1.9 billion in total debt. Trouble set in decades ago as each of the Atlantic City-based entities under Trump’s umbrella went through separate bankruptcies– the Trump Taj Mahal in 1991 and the Trump Plaza in 1992 –before reorganizing into Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts in 1995.

Long before Trump was known as a reality television star or a wannabe politician, his name was most recognizable as the larger-than-life owner of a casino-hotel empire.

The truth of the matter can be found somewhere in the middle.

Atlantic city trump casino bankruptcies