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‘Trump, Inc.’ Podcast: Money Laundering and the Trump Taj Mahal

The casino’s money laundering controls were so lacking, regulators found, it amounted to “willful” violations of the law.

Photo, left, by Ryan Johnson, photo illustration by William Graves/WNYC

“Trump, Inc.” is a production of WNYC Studios and ProPublica. Support our work by visiting donate.propublica.org or by becoming a supporting member of WNYC. Subscribe here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Just months before Donald Trump announced his bid for president in 2015, federal regulators announced they were slapping one of his longtime Atlantic City casinos with a record-setting $10 million fine for lack of controls around money laundering.

The problems went back years. The penalty was actually the second record-setting fine for the Trump Taj Mahal involving money-laundering oversight.

What exactly did the Taj fail to do? Casino officials admitted to “willful and repeated” violations of the Bank Secrecy Act: As federal authorities put it in a settlement:

Trump Taj Mahal admitted that it failed to implement and maintain an effective AML [anti-money laundering] program; failed to report suspicious transactions; failed to properly file required currency transaction reports; and failed to keep appropriate records as required.

Listen to the Podcast

In this episode of “Trump, Inc.,” our podcast with WNYC, we dig into the now-bankrupt and shuttered Trump Taj Mahal, once one of the biggest and glitziest casinos in the world. It’s a story of chaotic operations, massive debt, and a tendency to treat rules as more like suggestions. Ring a bell?

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