Rosenberg, who was owed 1. 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.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.A quarter of a century has passed since Donald Trump refused to pay in full 253 contractors who helped build his Taj in Atlantic City.“This guy never paid me,” MacLeod deadpanned.The check never came.  

The contractor who put in the bathroom partitions had to lay off his brother.Many contractors didn’t know what to think.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.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. Millar is deceased. “Pay me my money!”Documents filed with regulators suggest Trump gave Paone about a third of what he was owed over the next year. Others caught up in the Taj turmoil didn’t fare as well.  

An invoice sent weeks ICE  MAKER manufacturers earlier for 1.. (Photo: AP)The contractor who provided the onion domes for the Taj Mahal casino had to eat 2 million in losses.”For the contractors, the first signs of trouble came in February 1990.Trump managed to open the Boardwalk casino on April 2, 1990, and continued to dismiss rumours that he was in financial trouble, but the truth soon came out. A day later, he got his answer: The money’s coming in two weeks.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.

In this April 5, 1990 file photo, Donald Trump stands next to a genie’s lamp as the lights of his Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort light up during ceremonies to mark its opening in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The company refused to comment.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. “We could lose everything. His family wouldn’t comment.” Court documents suggest he got about 30 cents on the dollar over the next year.“If ethics or morality has nothing to do with business,” Rosenberg says, “he’s a very good businessman.Morrison wrote off 2 million of the 3 million Trump owed him, according to his book. In 1996, he filed for personal bankruptcy.4 million still hadn’t been paid.9 million. 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. When the casino emerged from Chapter 11, Trump got a contract to manage it. But he had received only 100,000 of the 1.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.In this April 5, 1990 file photo, Donald Trump stands next to a genie’s lamp as the lights of his Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort light up during ceremonies to mark its opening in Atlantic City, New Jersey.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. Strapped for money, some contractors sold the bonds immediately, getting a fraction of what they were worth at maturity. Regular checks for work completed stopped arriving in the mail. (Photo: AP) 01TRUMP1. Everyone laughed.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.One of the hardest hit was marble supplier John Millar, who was owed 3. The next year, the Trump Taj filed for bankruptcy. “I took a big hit. It took years to get the rest, assuming the companies survived long enough to collect.Mario Paone, president of Hastings, rarely lost his temper.” 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.3 million he had billed Trump. 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.“I’ll check it out, Marty, and call you right back,” the man said. “We got next to nothing,” says Michael MacLeod, whose 40-person studio made the giant elephant statues at the casino’s entrance.MacLeod, the elephant sculptor, says his anger has faded.  

The contractor who supplied the Carrara marble from Italy ended up filing for personal bankruptcy.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. But for many of them, it could have happened yesterday.Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Trump attorney Alan Garten did not respond to a list of questions about the candidate’s Taj dealings. The stress was also building at Hastings Pavement, a company supplying paving stones.