The Trump Organization

The Trump Organization
Company typePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1927; 97 years ago (1927)
(as E. Trump & Son)
Founders
HeadquartersTrump Tower, New York City
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Services
RevenueUS$600 million (estimate, 2024)[3]
OwnerDonald Trump
Number of employees
22,450 (2015)[4]
Websitetrump.com
This article is part of
a series about
Donald Trump
Business and personal
45th & 47th President of the
United States
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Impeachments
Civil and criminal prosecutions
COVID-19 pandemic
Donald Trump's signature
Seal of the President of the United States

The Trump Organization is an American privately owned conglomerate owned by Donald Trump. It serves as the holding company for all of Trump's business ventures and investments, with around 250 of its affiliates and subsidiaries using the Trump name.[5][6][7] Donald Trump joined the organization in 1968, began leading it in 1971, renamed it around 1973, and handed off its leadership to his children in 2017 after he won the 2016 United States presidential election.

The Trump Organization, through its various constituent companies and partnerships, has or has had interests in real estate development, investing, brokerage, sales and marketing, and property management. Trump Organization entities own, operate, invest in, and develop residential real estate, hotels, resorts, residential towers, and golf courses in various countries.[5][6][8] They also operate or have operated in construction, hospitality, casinos, entertainment, book and magazine publishing, broadcast media, model management, retail, financial services, food and beverages, business education, online travel, commercial and private aviation, and beauty pageants.[3][9] Trump Organization entities also own the New York television production company that produced the reality television franchise The Apprentice.[10] Retail operations include or have included fashion apparel, jewelry and accessories, books, home furnishings, lighting products, bath textiles and accessories, bedding, home fragrance products, small leather goods, vodka, wine, barware, steaks, chocolate bars, and bottled spring water.[11]

Since the financial statements of the Trump Organization's holdings and Donald Trump's personal tax returns are both private, its true value is not publicly known, though a wide range of estimates have been made. Trump has publicly released little definitive financial documentation to confirm his valuation claims.[12][13] On several occasions, Trump has been accused of deliberately inflating the valuation of Trump Organization properties through aggressive lobbying of the media (in particular the authors of the annual Forbes 400 list) to bolster his perceived net worth.[14]

By 2019, the Trump Organization was being scrutinized by New York investigators for possible financial fraud. In July 2021, New York prosecutors charged the organization with 10 counts in an alleged 15-year tax avoidance scheme. In November, The Washington Post reported that between 2011 and 2015 the organization presented several properties as being worth far more to potential lenders than to tax officials. In August 2022, the organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty to committing more than a dozen felonies, including criminal tax fraud and grand larceny.[15] In September 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a civil lawsuit against the organization. A separate criminal case by the Manhattan district attorney was brought to trial in October; on December 6, the organization was convicted on 17 criminal charges.[16][17]

In September 2023, the judge presiding over the civil suit ruled that Trump, his adult sons and the organization repeatedly committed fraud and ordered their New York business certificates canceled and their business entities sent into receivership for dissolution in what has been described by observers as a "corporate death penalty". Trump and the organization were ordered to pay nearly $355 million before interest in February 2024, with further restrictions placed on the Trump Organization's business certificates, and on both Trump and his adult sons' ability to do business in New York.[18][19][20][21][16] On March 25, 2024, the required payment was lowered to $175 million with a 10 day deadline.[22] Trump posted the bond on April 1, 2024, thus ensuring that his assets and properties could not be seized until at least the time his appeals finished.[23]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Max Abelson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "The Next Generation". The Trump Organization. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "21 Unusual Facts About Billionaire Politician Donald Trump". Inc.com. August 20, 2015. Archived from the original on January 28, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  4. ^ Long, Heather (September 3, 2015). "How many jobs has Donald Trump actually created?". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Zurcher, Anthony (July 23, 2015). "Five take-aways from Donald Trump's financial disclosure". BBC. Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Garver, Rob (July 24, 2015). "7 Revelations from Donald Trump's Financial Disclosure". CNBC. Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  7. ^ Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. "Status of U.S. federal income tax returns" (PDF). The Trump Organization. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  8. ^ Lisa, Andrew (August 21, 2015). "How Donald Trump brings in over $250M a year". Las Vegas Review-Journal (GoBankingRates.com). Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  9. ^ Yanofsky, David (July 22, 2015). "A list of everything Donald Trump runs that has his name on it". Quartz. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  10. ^ Epstein, Reid J.; Haddon, Heather (August 11, 2015). "Donald Trump Is Frugal With His Cash in Republican Presidential Race". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  11. ^ "The Trump Organization LLC". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  12. ^ Tully, Shawn (March 3, 2016). "Trump Once Said Some Amazing Things About His Net Worth Under Oath". Fortune. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  13. ^ O'Brien, Timothy L. (October 19, 2015). "How Much Is Trump Worth? Depends on How He Feels". Newsweek. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  14. ^ Greenberg, Jonathan (April 20, 2018). "Perspective | Trump lied to me about his wealth to get onto the Forbes 400. Here are the tapes". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 20, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  15. ^ McClear, Sheila; Berman, Mark. "Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  16. ^ a b McCoy, Kevin (December 6, 2022). "Trump companies convicted on all charges in Manhattan criminal tax fraud case". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  17. ^ "Trump Organization Found Guilty in Tax Fraud Scheme". The New York Times. December 6, 2022. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  18. ^ Kates, Graham (September 26, 2023). "Donald Trump and his company 'repeatedly' violated fraud law, New York judge rules". CBS News. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  19. ^ Wolf, Zachary B. (September 27, 2023). "Why a fraud finding is like 'corporate death penalty' for Trump | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  20. ^ Italiano, Laura. "Trump's 'corporate death penalty' explained: Veteran Manhattan fraud prosecutors describe what's next". Business Insider. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  21. ^ del Valle, Lauren; Scannell, Kara; Herb, Jeremy; Berman, Dan; Hammond, Elise. "Judge orders Trump and companies to pay nearly $355 million in civil fraud trial".
  22. ^ Shabad, Rebecca; Gregorian, Dareh (March 25, 2024). "N.Y. appeals court reduces Trump's bond in his civil fraud case to $175 million, a victory for the former president". NBC News. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  23. ^ Protess, Ben (March 25, 2024). "Trump Gets Bond Deal to Ward Off $454 Million Judgment, for Now". New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2024.