Column: A lengthy list of Trump’s disastrous business deals — compiled by his newest business partners
Donald Trump, business genius?
(Associated Press)
BY MICHAEL
HILTZIK BUSINESS COLUMNIST
MAY 18, 2022 3:54 PM PT
Donald Trump’s business
history has been so filled with disastrous ventures that it’s been hard to keep
track of them all.
No longer. Digital World Acquisition Corp.,
which is the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, taking Trump’s
“Truth Social” media platform public, has conveniently listed them in a document it is required to file
publicly before selling stock. DWAC is aiming to raise at least
$875 million.
Some followers of Trumpworld may find that the
S-4 registration statement filed Monday in anticipation of the Trump-SPAC
merger makes hilarious reading. It’s certainly thorough, though there’s always
the chance that a business failure here or there escaped its drafters’ notice.
President Trump is
involved in numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his
reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to
resign from TMTG’s board of directors.
— Digital World
Acquisition Corp. Form 2-4
The litany appears in a section of the S-4
headed “Risk Factors,” specifically “Risks Related to our Chairman President
Donald J. Trump.”
Because the success of the merged company
depends in part on “the reputation and popularity of its Chairman, President
Donald J. Trump,” his background is obviously pertinent.
The document also lists other more typical
risks, including regulatory and competitive issues and “fires, floods,
earthquakes, power losses, telecommunications failures, break-ins, and similar
events,” but never mind them now.
Let’s delve instead into the Trump-related
risks.
“A number of companies that were associated with
President Trump have filed for bankruptcy,” the document states. “There can be
no assurances that TMTG [that is, Trump Media & Technology Group] will not
also become bankrupt.”
Let’s start with Trump’s casinos in Atlantic
City:
“The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned
by President Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza,
the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by President Trump at the
time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. THCR, which was founded by
President Trump in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. Trump
Entertainment Resorts Inc., the new name given to Trump Hotels & Casino
Resorts after its 2004 bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy in 2009.”
Then there’s the list of “companies that had
license agreements with President Trump [that] have failed”:
“Trump Shuttle Inc., launched by President Trump
in 1989, defaulted on its loans in 1990 and ceased to exist by 1992. Trump
University, founded by President Trump in 2005, ceased operations in 2011 amid
lawsuits and investigations regarding the company’s business practices. Trump
Vodka, a brand of vodka produced by Drinks Americas under license from the
Trump Organization, was introduced in 2005 and discontinued in 2011.”
Also, “Trump Mortgage, LLC, a financial services
company founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007.
GoTrump.com, a travel site founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased
operations in 2007. Trump Steaks, a brand of steak and other meats founded by
President Trump in 2007, discontinued sales two months after its launch.”
The S-4 also observes that “President Trump is
involved in numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his
reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to
resign from TMTG’s board of directors.”
Among them, the document specifies that “a
congressional committee is investigating President Trump’s role, if any, in
violence at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Two groups of U.S.
Capitol Police officers, in two separate lawsuits, have sued President Trump
for allegedly inciting riots on that date.”
Further, the S-4 mentions other “ongoing
litigation involving President Trump related to the 2020 election,” including a
lawsuit filed by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, and a criminal
investigation launched by “the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney’s office
... into President Trump’s alleged interference in the presidential election.”
Also, “the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Reform is investigating President Trump’s alleged
destruction and removal of classified documents and White House records, as
well as potential inaccurate financial statements filed by the Trump
Organization in relation to the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. "
Separate investigations have been launched by
“the New York County (Manhattan) district attorney, the New York attorney
general, and the Westchester County district attorney to determine if the Trump
Organization made false valuations of property to avoid tax liability and for
other financial benefits.”
The document continues, “On April 25, 2022, a
New York state court judge held President Trump in civil contempt for failing
to comply with a subpoena for documents related to the New York attorney
general’s investigation of the Trump Organization. President Trump, along with
his three eldest children (including Donald Trump Jr., a TMTG board member),
are defendants in a class-action lawsuit accusing them and the Trump Corp. of
defrauding investors in exchange for secret payments from multiple companies.”
Also, “The Trump Organization recently paid
$750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia accusing the
organization of misusing nonprofit funds from the 58th Presidential
Inaugural Committee.”
On top of that, “President Trump is the
defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll who
claims that President Trump defamed her when he denied her allegations of
sexual assault against him. In the past, President Trump has been involved in
multiple lawsuits and settlements — and the subject of numerous accusations
that did not result in legal action — related to sexual conduct and alleged
misconduct.”
For investors, the scariest line in the entire
document may be this: “The foregoing does not purport to be an exhaustive
list.”
The S-4 cites a USA Today article from 2016
finding that “over the previous three decades President Trump and his
businesses had been involved in 3,500 legal cases in U.S. federal and state
courts. ... In the 1,300 cases where the record establishes the outcome,
President Trump settled 175 times, lost 38, won 450, and had another 137 cases
end with some other outcome. In the other 500 cases, judges dismissed
plaintiffs’ claims against President Trump.”
So if you’re inclined to invest with Donald
Trump, don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik
writes a daily blog appearing
on latimes.com. His seventh book, “Iron Empires: Robber
Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America,” has just been published
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/hiltzikm and
on Facebook at facebook.com/hiltzik.
