Donald Trump worked hard to see his name removed from the struggling Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey going as far as filing a lawsuit. However on Monday he struck a deal with billionaire investor Carl Icahn to keep the Trump name on the casino.
Donald and his daughter Ivanka recently won the right to move forward with their suit, but now there is no need to. Donald was previously associated with Trump Entertainment Resorts but parted ways ?with control of the company that kept his namesake.
The lawsuit was first filed back in August when the Trumps decided that their name, which they associate with the ‘highest levels of quality, luxury, prestige and success’ is no longer a fit with the Atlantic City casinos. But in an about-face today he said, “The Trump Taj Mahal, under the right leadership and with the proposed significant reinvestment in the property, can be, once again, a wonderful place for travel and entertainment.”
Trump Entertainment Resorts and the casino is being taken over by Icahn (pending Delaware federal bankruptcy proceedings) who has released some $20 million so far to see it through bankruptcy. The Trump name has already been stripped from much of the Trump Plaza property which closed in September. The agreement calls for removing the name from “any and all vestiges” of the Plaza property.
Trump has filed for bankruptcy three times in the past and retains 10% ownership, but no control of Trump Entertainment Resorts.