
Atlantic City, NJ – Donald Trump has definitely had his ups and downs. With multiple marriages, near financial ruin, and public spats with celebrities Trump’s storied life has been nothing if not dramatic. Now the 62 year-old real estate mogul has stepped the drama up to a new level but quitting his own company and leaving those running it to almost assured financial ruin.
According to Bloomberg Trump has resigned from the board of Entertainment Resorts, Inc. which was founded in 2005 as a result of debt restructuring involving another of his companies, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. Trump and his daughter Ivanka have both left the board of the holding company amid talk that it will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.<
“I strongly disagree with the bondholders’ decisions and actions,” said Trump. “It’s a disaster and I see what’s happened with so many others, and I don’t want to be a part of it.”
Trump holds a 28 per cent stake in the company and his bank account is not expected to be affected by the resignation.
“No one would ever accuse Donald Trump of being a stand up guy or a saint but there will undoubtedly be questions about his role in the company should it indeed file for bankruptcy protection or even potentially go under,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “He does
claim that he isn’t responsible for the management of the company but that that may not fly with the SEC. Trump has been able to stay out of serious trouble throughout his life and there’s no doubt that he is quite adept at walking that line between being rich and being a criminal.”
All three of the company’s casinos have been through bankruptcy twice before. Trump himself has had a number of his other casinos and buildings go through various levels of bankruptcy filings. None of that past history though seems to have hit home with the Donald.
“It seems the only thing Trump has learned from all these bankruptcies is how to get out before things really go south. Most people would walk away after their first or second filing but Trump just keeps trucking on regardless of the consequences,” continued Green. “You have to admire the man’s determination but his ethics are perhaps a little limited to say the least. It just appears as though, at least looking at it from the outside, that owning casinos isn’t really Trump’s strong suit.”
It is not clear what effect the potential filing will have on other shareholders and employees of the various casinos.
“One thing this action does illustrate is how tough the decline in the economy has been on the extremely wealthy. Ludicrous wealth is the standard bearer for capitalism itself and they are important to all of us. People’s natural reaction to this kind of thing is usually satisfaction especially as they lose their houses, life insurance and the like, but really average people should be
feeling sorry for billionaires and their problems,” continued Green. “You lose your home, they lose their casinos. It may not seem equivalent but there is a whole lot
more for a billionaire to lose than an average person and as more and more casinos close people will have fewer places to go to drown their misery and push themselves deeper into debt, which is truly the mark of capitalism and western prosperity. Without that things may really be lost.”
Trump’s personal wealth is estimated at 3 billion dollars, or enough to treat every person in America to lunch.
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