Donald Trump returns to his company this week as it faces a deepening crisis, with key properties bleeding revenue and its bankers, lawyers and customers fleeing the company.
Financial disclosure forms, filed by the former president as he left office, revealed that his hotels, resorts and other properties had lost more than $120 million in revenue last year, as the pandemic forced long-term closures and kept customers home.
Those losses were worst in the places where Trump could least afford it: His Washington hotel, which has a $170 million loan outstanding, saw revenue drop more than 60 percent. His Doral resort in Miami — also carrying a huge debt load — saw a 44 percent drop.
On Thursday, the company’s troubles grew: One of its banks and one of its law firms said they would cut their ties with the Trump Organization.
Overall, Trump listed specific revenue figures for 47 different companies, including his golf clubs, hotels and New York City park properties. Combined, revenue at those companies declined more than 35 percent last year, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Trump faces more than $400 million in outstanding loans, including more than $290 million on Doral and the D.C. hotel.
Ironically, the future of those businesses could depend on the man whose victory Trump tried to overturn: President Biden.
That’s because Biden’s success in speeding up vaccinations for the coronavirus will play a major role in determining how fast the hotel and travel industries recover. In addition, because Trump’s D.C. hotel is located in a federally owned building, the Biden administration is his landlord. If Trump seeks to renegotiate his lease, or to get federal approval for a sale of the building, he will be dealing with Biden’s General Services Administration.
Since the attack on the Capitol, Trump had lost three of the four banks that held his largest deposits. Signature Bank and Professional Bank cut their ties earlier this month. The fourth bank, Capital One, has declined to comment.
Also Thursday, Trump lost one of his best-known law firms: Morgan Lewis, which has represented Trump on tax issues since before he ran for office. One Morgan Lewis partner, Sheri Dillon, had become a well-known defender of Trump, appearing with him in 2017 at a news conference in Trump Tower, next to a pile of papers and folders that were supposed to represent Trump relinquishing control of his businesses.
Dillon was also involved in the Trump Organization’s handling of an estate called Seven Springs in suburban New York, where the company obtained a $21 million tax break through a “conservation easement” — essentially, a promise not to develop some of the land in exchange for a tax benefit. Now, Trump’s dealings with Seven Springs are the focus of two state-level investigations, by the Manhattan district attorney and the New York attorney general.
The decision by Morgan Lewis marked at least two law firms that have cut ties with Trump’s company since Jan. 6. The first, Seyfarth Shaw, announced its decision last week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-company-financial-problems/2021/01/21/3899b7e4-5c25-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html