In 1995, Donald Trump’s first and only initial public offering raised $140 million from public investors under the ticker symbol DJT. A decade later, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, filed for bankruptcy.
The casino company posted losses every year it was public — more than $600 million in total between 1995 and 2004 — a CNNMoney analysis of 10 years of corporate filings shows.
DJT paid Trump handsomely each year. His salary, bonus and options totaled about $20 million.
An additional $18.5 million came from what the filings called “other” compensation. That includes a web of inventive deals:
— complex consulting contracts that paid Trump for consulting with his own company;
— licensing deals under which DJT paid Trump to use the Trump name;
— reimbursement for the times the company used his personal jet or golf courses for VIPs.
In other words, a company that Trump controlled was paying Trump to use other stuff he owned, including his name.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
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