Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 (edited) Trump Taj Bankruptcy Left Many Contractors Angry By bernard condon, ap business writer ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Jun 29, 2016, 3:41 AM ET The contractor who provided the onion domes for the Taj Mahal casino had to eat $2 million in losses. The contractor who supplied the Carrara marble from Italy ended up filing for personal bankruptcy. The contractor who put in the bathroom partitions had to lay off his brother. A quarter of a century has passed since Donald Trump refused to pay in full 253 contractors who help build his Taj in Atlantic City. But for many of them, it could have happened yesterday. "We got next to nothing," says Michael MacLeod, whose 40-person studio made the giant elephant statues at the casino's entrance. "I took a big hit." After the Taj opened in April 1990, the self-anointed "King of Debt" owed $70 million to contractors employing thousands who built the domes and minarets, put up the glass and drywall, laid the pipes and installed everything from chandeliers to bathroom fixtures. A year later, when the casino collapsed into bankruptcy, those owed the most got only 33 cents in cash for each dollar owed, with promises of another 50 cents later. It took years to get the rest, assuming the companies survived long enough to collect. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Trump attorney Alan Garten did not respond to a list of questions about the candidate's Taj dealings. Marty Rosenberg, former vice president of Atlantic Plate Glass, says the way Trump handled the contractors shows the candidate is shrewd and clever, but Trump won't get his vote. "If ethics or morality has nothing to do with business," Rosenberg says, "he's a very good businessman." For the contractors, the first signs of trouble came in February 1990. Regular checks for work completed stopped arriving in the mail. Rosenberg, who was owed $1.1 million for installing floor-to-ceiling curtain walls of glass, picked up the phone in his Atlantic City office and called one of Trump's men overseeing construction. "I'll check it out, Marty, and call you right back," the man said. A day later, he got his answer: The money's coming in two weeks. The check never came. Five hundred miles away, in Ashtabula, Ohio, Robert Morrison of the Molded Fiber Glass Co. was pressing his workers to finish the domes, minarets and other faux Moorish ornaments in time for an April 2 opening — and worrying about who was going to pay for it all. An invoice sent weeks earlier for $1.4 million still hadn't been paid. Many contractors didn't know what to think. Trump said he needed to complete audits first to make sure they weren't overcharging; he denied he was in financial trouble. "I have a tremendous amount of cash," he told The Washington Post that March. Desperate for money to pay workers and suppliers, some contractors became easy targets for a new Trump offer: Agree to less than they billed, and he'd pay the lower amounts immediately. One of the hardest hit was marble supplier John Millar, who was owed $3.9 million. As he was walking into a meeting with contractors to share strategies, landscaper Herman Caucci asked him what he planned to do: Stick it out, or take cash at a discount? "I don't know, Herman, I need the money," Caucci recalls Millar responding before the March 1990 meeting. "We could lose everything." Court documents suggest he got about 30 cents on the dollar over the next year. Millar is deceased. His family wouldn't comment. The stress was also building at Hastings Pavement, a company supplying paving stones. Mario Paone, president of Hastings, rarely lost his temper. But he had received only $100,000 of the $1.3 million he had billed Trump. He exploded one day just as his son, Philip Paone, then 24, walked up to his office door. "I want my money!" Philip recalls his father screaming into the phone to Trump. "Pay me my money!" Documents filed with regulators suggest Trump gave Paone about a third of what he was owed over the next year. Trump managed to open the Boardwalk casino on April 2, 1990, and continued to dismiss rumors that he was in financial trouble, but the truth soon came out. Over his protests, regulators unsealed a devastating report in August written by Trump's own accountants that showed he had been burning through cash in his personal accounts so fast in the spring that he would have had nothing by end of the year if he didn't take drastic action. The next year, the Trump Taj filed for bankruptcy. When the casino emerged from Chapter 11, Trump got a contract to manage it. Others caught up in the Taj turmoil didn't fare as well. Marble man Millar had to lay off workers, shut down his business Avalon Commercial, close many of his retail stores and borrow from friends to make ends meet, according to court documents and Millar's lawyers and former employees. In 1996, he filed for personal bankruptcy. Morrison's Molded Fiber Glass joined with 47 others in a negotiated settlement with Trump for cash equal to 33 cents of each dollar owed, plus 50 cents in convertible bonds, according to a book by Morrison published in 1994. Strapped for money, some contractors sold the bonds immediately, getting a fraction of what they were worth at maturity. Morrison wrote off $2 million of the $3 million Trump owed him, according to his book. The company refused to comment. MacLeod, the elephant sculptor, says his anger has faded. Giving a slide presentation of his work to an architectural firm two days after Trump swept the New York Republican primary in April, he slipped in two photos — one showing one of the elephants, the other showing Trump's name on the casino marquee in red lights. "This guy never paid me," MacLeod deadpanned. Everyone laughed. What a nice guy eh? http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-taj-bankruptcy-left-contractors-angry-40211016 Edited June 29, 2016 by Mainecat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 And hillary murders Americans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 hour ago, Sludgey said: And hillary murders Americans. post up the conviction or shut the fuck up. Imagine being a small business like the hundreds that contracted for Trump and getting stiffed. Many here are in the same type of trades. Condoning this type of business activity is totally insane, supporting a guy who does this many times for president of the United States should be committed to the tard home. But hey Sludgey your a Trump supporter....lmao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 minute ago, Mainecat said: post up the conviction or shut the fuck up. Imagine being a small business like the hundreds that contracted for Trump and getting stiffed. Many here are in the same type of trades. Condoning this type of business activity is totally insane, supporting a guy who does this many times for president of the United States should be committed to the tard home. But hey Sludgey your a Trump supporter....lmao Then post up the conviction of bush and Cheney on war crimes or shut the fuck up. oh snap! oh and did trump do anything illegal here? Post up his conviction. Or.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momorider Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Just now, Sludgey said: Then post up the conviction of bush and Cheney on war crimes or shut the fuck up. oh snap! oh and did trump do anything illegal here? Post up his conviction. Or.... MaineCUNT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 hour ago, Sludgey said: Then post up the conviction of bush and Cheney on war crimes or shut the fuck up. oh snap! oh and did trump do anything illegal here? Post up his conviction. Or.... He filed bankruptcy, fucking hard working American families out of money for his profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 hour ago, Momorider said: MaineCUNT You support Trump Canadian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momorider Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Just now, Mainecat said: He filed bankruptcy, fucking hard working American families out of money for his profit. So another thing you are ignorant about is bankruptcy law Yah no shit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Storm Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 So you're saying Hillary is better MC,that we all should all just vote for her? You know,the cunt that you won't vote for . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momorider Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 7 minutes ago, Capt.Storm said: So you're saying Hillary is better MC,that we all should all just vote for her? You know,the cunt that you won't vote for . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 Trump is such a nice guy....lmao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Storm Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 minute ago, Mainecat said: Trump is such a nice guy....lmao Nobody is really saying that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 32 minutes ago, Mainecat said: He filed bankruptcy, fucking hard working American families out of money for his profit. Was it illegal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 Trump fucks over hundreds of average working Americans and many small companies and yet he gets supported for president here by morons. Incredible Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 17 minutes ago, Mainecat said: Trump fucks over hundreds of average working Americans and many small companies and yet he gets supported for president here by morons. Incredible Did he do something illegal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 2 hours ago, Sludgey said: Did he do something illegal? Ask the families he has fucked over and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer254 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 3 hours ago, Mainecat said: He filed bankruptcy, fucking hard working American families out of money for his profit. So did GM and you were all for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 29 minutes ago, Mainecat said: Ask the families he has fucked over and over. I'm asking you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 hour ago, racer254 said: So did GM and you were all for it. How so? I was all for saving their jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 hour ago, Sludgey said: I'm asking you I answered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 1 minute ago, Mainecat said: I answered So trump did nothing illegal. Are you mad at your law makers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepr2 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 3 hours ago, Mainecat said: Trump fucks over hundreds of average working Americans and many small companies and yet he gets supported for president here by morons. Incredible Government does the same thing and you cheer for it. You pathetic liar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcticCrusher Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Yup, Trump should have let all his unrelated and productive businesses eat the cost of his failed business ventures. Yup, cause that is how smart business owners do things. Libtard economics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zambroski Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 MainCat is a retard week! Better than Sharkweek! Hey Dipshit....business ventures don't always work out. But since you don't know the saying, here: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Last I read, Trump and his subsidiaries employ over 20, 000 people...and indirect business that depend on Trump Companies employ another 10,000+ To quote "Arctic Crusher", stop using fucking stupid "Lib-Tard Economics" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 2 hours ago, Zambroski said: MainCat is a retard week! Better than Sharkweek! Hey Dipshit....business ventures don't always work out. But since you don't know the saying, here: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Last I read, Trump and his subsidiaries employ over 20, 000 people...and indirect business that depend on Trump Companies employ another 10,000+ To quote "Arctic Crusher", stop using fucking stupid "Lib-Tard Economics" Now tell me you would be OK if he stiffed your small company? go ahead big mouth you should read how many people has screwed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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