It Started with a Bang

In the early 1980s, Donald J. Trump was a big star in the casino sphere of New Jersey’s very own Atlantic City. Casting a large shadow in the gambling industry, Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City contributed nearly a third of the city’s entire gambling revenue.

Italian Mafia Money Laundering in Atlantic City and in New York City. As you already know, Trump's casinos in Atlantic City were haemorrhaging money in the 90's. Now whether this was by design may be part of the overall conspiracy, as in many money laundering cases, real estate projects that are under water are usual targets for money laundering. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is reportedly looking into possible money laundering by associates of Donald Trump. If true, it wouldn't be the first time his associates would be accused of such. Donald Trump and his campaign may be using his Mar-A-Lago resort as a money-laundering machine, warns a retired tax crimes investigator. He’s looking at how payments to the Florida resort, through Trump’s campaign, have the appearance of dodging financial reporting requirements — in short, he says they look like a cover-up.

If that wasn’t enough, his casino and real estate portfolio in Atlantic City directly employed over 8,000 of its citizens. When the Trump Taj Mahal was first built in 1990, it was the biggest, brashest casino in the world. Boasting a 42-story story, the Trump Taj Mahal wasn’t just New Jersey’s tallest building, but it was the world’s largest casino also.

Trump Casino Money Laundry

Renowned for its exquisite glamor, the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ was host to over 3,000 slot machines, world-class gourmet chefs, dozens of luxurious restaurants, and crystal chandeliers scattered throughout that were worth $15 million alone. If that wasn’t subtle enough, the staff were even forced to wear turbans garbed with real ostrich feathers.

The British government introduced unexplained wealth orders in 2018 to help authorities fight money laundering and target the illicit wealth of foreign officials. Donald Trump insists he did.
With a mixture of months-long labor disputes and rumors of money laundering and ties to Asian organized crime, the “Eighth Wonder of the World” was a notorious addition to the booming Atlantic City casino world of the 80s and 90s that met its bitter end in 2016. Many years before he became president, Donald Trump was a prominent real estate.

It Ended with a Whimper

Despite this excessive extravagance, Trump and the Federal Authorities would come to the eventual realization that not all that glitters is gold. Building up ever-larger mountains and mountains of debt, the Trump Taj Mahal casino would eventually bring intense federal investigations, record-breaking fines, and multiple bankruptcies.

At one stage, the New York Times even calculated that the casino would need to make $1.3 million a day just to cover all of its debts. With its financial handlings in complete disarray, it wasn’t long before the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) cast its all-seeing eye to the whole affair and brought the whole house of cards crumbling down.

After the final Trump casino bankruptcy, the Taj Mahal would see its assets go for a slim fraction of what they were originally bought for. The once grandiose Austrian crystal chandeliers, poker tables, and even the lavish lamps would all end up on the auction block in a desperate attempt to pay back debtors.

The Late Wonder of the World

As a result of increasing pressure, Trump eventually took his leave of Atlantic City in 2009, after which the billionaire Carl Icahn took over the keys to the Trump Taj Mahal Casino and attempted to save it from the brink of collapse. However, it would prove to be too much of a burden even for a billionaire and in February 2017, the casino officially died.

Afterwards, Hard Rock International purchased the building for $300 million and reopened it as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City back in 2018. This might be a lot to take in, and you may be reading asking yourself, how could such a meteoric rise lead to such a catastrophic collapse?

In an interview, Icahn himself stated that he had lost millions on this cursed business endeavor. So where exactly did the Trump Taj Majal Casino go wrong? What did it fail to do to keep the Feds and debt collectors away from its doors?

Throughout the upcoming sections, we will spell out how this entire casino venture was doomed from the very beginning and how recklessness and a complete disregard for the law would combine to act as a magnet for money laundering and fraud which would signal the casino’s inevitable demise.

Doomed from the Start

Like all casinos, the Trump Taj Mahal had a legal responsibility to prevent money laundering. After several federal investigations, the authorities discovered a plethora of disconcerting facts about how the casino operated.

From problems with slots machine accounting, to ‘willful and repeated’ violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, the Trump Taj Mahal was a hotbed for suspicious transactions and ‘failed to maintain effective anti-money laundering measures’ at every turn. Staff also failed to keep appropriate records of the resort’s currency transactions, adding to the overall lack of transparency.

In the eyes of Uncle Sam, how the biggest, brashest casino in the world was operating was essentially an open invitation for fraud. So how do we know money laundering occurred?

The House Always Wins

If you ever find yourself running a casino, bear in mind that all transactions over $10,000 have to be recorded alongside a name, address, and time in case the authorities ever need to see this information. By keeping the books clear, you can help prevent crime and money laundering (making dirty money clean),

For instance, if a casino isn’t doing good bookkeeping, there’s nothing to stop somebody with dirty money buying $10,000 worth of chips, not playing them, and cashing them out to get ‘clean’ money from the casino by claiming they were legitimate winnings. With the Trump Taj Mahal, authorities found that the casino violated bookkeeping rules 106 times within the first two years.

Causes for Concern

Despite its high visibility, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission begun to cast a watchful eye over the Trump Taj Mahal’s performance because of the rapidly rising costs and were considering rescinding its gaming license. Initially, Trump was able to sweet talk them and promised to rein his expenses in.

Within a few months, however, Trump had acquired a total debt of the Taj Mahal that amounted to $820 million and it seemed unfathomable that he could recover. By the end of 1991, the casino filed for its first bankruptcy with Trump giving away 50% of his stakes to bondholders to absolve his debts. Although, he did manage to keep a managerial role over the casino.

According to some FBI stories, the casino also became a hotspot for the Russian mob, who would bet large amounts of cash there. This, along with the shoddy bookkeeping practices, paved the way for the first federal fine that the casino would receive.

First Fine

In many ways, the fines that the Trump Taj Mahal received were groundbreaking. In the 1990s, the only casino in Atlantic City to fail consistently at anti-money laundering measures was the Taj Mahal. Due to its lack of transparency and for endangering the livelihoods of its workers, the US Treasury Department issued the casino with a whopping $477,000 fine in 1998, an unprecedented figure at the time.

While the casino resort itself denied any evidence of money laundering in their establishment at this time, the Trump Taj Mahal agreed to pay the penalty for breaking the Bank Secrecy Act. While this story caused a media circus, it would pale in comparison to the second fine that was to follow several years later in 2015.

Piling on the Pressure

Five years later in 2003, FinCEN investigators would find repeat violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and begun to pile on the pressure. It should also be noted that despite its multiple bankruptcies, Trump was still making money at this t

Trump Casino And Money Laundering