Inside the lavish NY real estate portfolio Trump amassed under company he’s been banned from running
NY Post
Donald Trump — who was temporarily banned from being CEO of his namesake company Friday — spent decades growing the family business, in part by slapping his last name on some of New York City’s most iconic buildings.
But the ruling by a Manhattan judge could see the former president lose his grip on the real estate world he’s been synonymous with since the late 1970s, dealing a major blow to the Trump Organization — and representing a significant ego bruising for Trump himself.
In the early 1990s, the real estate market was in freefall and several of Trump’s business ventures — including the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the Plaza Hotel in New York — had recently gone belly-up, which put the Queens native deeply in debt.
Licensing the Trump name became a way to boost his global profile, and bank account, without taking on the usual risks of a commercial real estate developer.
By attaching his name to a building project, Trump could collect a hefty payday while avoiding any liability.
The responsibility instead would fall to the project’s developer, who in turn received the benefit of being associated with a famous name.
