Donald Trump had years of troubles in Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY — Donald Trump often boasts that he made a lot of money in Atlantic City, despite the repeated failures of his casinos there, but what he does not mention is his casino empire’s repeated run-ins with government regulators over broken promises and violations of casino rules.

“The record before us is laced with hyperbole, contradictions and generalities,” Valerie Armstrong, then a member of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said in a 1988 hearing over Trump’s bid to take over Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal. Inconsistencies in Trump’s testimony, Armstrong said, “make it difficult to evaluate adequately the licensee’s fitness for licensure.”

Records gathered over four months by the USA Today Network shine light on an era marked by battles with regulators who often doubted Trump’s statements, yet allowed him to keep operating. The review also found that Trump’s casinos repeatedly broke state rules, leading to more than $1 million in fines. The most egregious rule-breaking centered on the casinos’ illicit efforts to cater to high rollers and last-ditch maneuvers to stave off the financial collapse ahead.

Despite his troubles in New Jersey, Trump eagerly sought to become an international casino mogul, adding an Indiana riverboat and trying to open casinos in states including Nevada, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Missouri and countries including Canada and New Zealand.

Read more: http://www.northjersey.com/news/donald-trump-had-years-of-troubles-in-atlantic-city-1.1628191