Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City was found out to have violated anti-money laundering regulations more than 100 times during the first and a half year after being launched in April 1990, CNN reported.
Dubbed the eighth wonder of the world, the gambling resort opened doors in the early 1990s with current US President Donald Trump at its helm. As found in federal records, the casino failed to report 106 separate instances of players cashing out $10,000 or more within the course of a single day between April 1990 and December 1991.
Information about Trump Taj Mahal’s allegedly lax anti-money laundering policies spread after 417 pages of Treasury Department papers were obtained by the CNN in relation to ongoing probes into President Trump’s reported Russian ties.
According to documents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Treasury Department’s tax collection bureau, Trump Taj Mahal was fined $477,000 for failing to report players that could have used the casino to mask illicit activities. The fine was imposed under a 1998 settlement that did not include the gambling venue admitting that it had breached Bank Secrecy Act principles.
Under said principles a casino must report any patron that cashes out $10,000 or more within a single day, filling out a form containing their name, address, birth date, and Social Security number. The gambling venue must do this within a 15-day period and refer the form to the IRS.
According to IRS documents, Trump Taj Mahal paid another, heftier fine, in 2015, once again for violating anti-money laundering rules. The casino had to pay $10 million for the breaches. This time it admitted to “willfully” violating the Bank Secrecy Act’s principles for reporting and record-keeping. The registered violations took place in the period between 2010 and 2012.
Papers showed that there was money laundering with players using slot machine tickets. There were also players who avoided raising any suspicions by cashing out smaller amounts of money.
President Trump had left Atlantic City by the time the 2010-2012 money laundering instances took place. The former casino mogul sold the greater portion of its stake in Trump Taj Mahal’s parent company in 2009, departing from the once popular casino resort city. He maintained a very limited amount of shares for the next several years and disposed of these completely several years later.
Trump Taj Mahal closed doors permanently in October 2016, after its then owner – New York businessman Carl Icahn failed to negotiate the terms of new employment contracts with workers at the gambling venue. Mr. Icahn announced in February that he would sell the shuttered casino to whomever was ready to invest in what he considered a stagnant gambling market.
A buyer was found instantly, with Hard Rock International showing great eagerness to enter Atlantic City’s gambling market. Now owned by the major operator, Trump Taj Mahal will be renovated and redesigned to match in style all the other Hard Rock casino properties. The casino is expected to be reopened as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City in the summer of 2018.
