Trump Fined For Casino Money Laundering Scandal

Despite repeated denials, a new report suggests Donald Trump had a long-standing relationship with a racist mobster who ultimately cost the Trump casino $650,000 in fines because he didn’t like black croupiers.

By Cristina Maza On 11/17/17 at 11:17 AM EST. Trump Corruption. President Donald Trump made tens of millions of dollars in profits by allowing Colombian drug cartels and other groups to.

According to a new report by Michael Isikoff for Yahoo, Trump and his casino for years catered to Robert LiButti, a gambling-addicted, John Gotti-affiliated mobster who didn’t like “women, blacks or other minorities.”

By Cristina Maza On 11/17/17 at 11:17 AM EST. Trump Corruption. President Donald Trump made tens of millions of dollars in profits by allowing Colombian drug cartels and other groups to. Casino Fined Record $75 Million For “Willful” Money Laundering Violations. Posted on: June 8, 2015, 01:50h. Last updated on: June 8, 2015, 01:51h. Nor is real estate the only realm where Trump has been involved with potential money laundering. In 2015, federal authorities fined the already-bankrupt Trump Taj Mahal $10 million for violations of anti-money-laundering laws. It wasn’t even the first time that the casino attracted the attention of. FinCEN Fines Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort $10 Million for Significant and Long Standing Anti-Money Laundering Violations. 20150306.pdf 106.27 KB. Contact: Steve Hudak (703) 905-3770. Immediate Release.

He also made it clear that “he did not want women, blacks or other minorities dealing or supervising his games,” according to one filing by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. He referred to one Trump Plaza floor person as a “dumb c***” and “dumb bitch,” another as a “Jew broad” and an African-American dealer as a “black bastard.” Finding himself playing with an African-American at his craps table, LiButti shouted, “Shoot the f***ing dice. Shoot the f***ing dice like you’re f***ing some n*****,” according to testimony in the case.

And according to the Casino Control Commission, the Trump Plaza—as it was called before Trump filed for bankruptcy—was happy to accommodate LiButti, prompting nine employees to file complaints that ultimately resulted in a $200,000 fine.

(According to Isikoff, the casino did more than that, buying LiButti—a high-roller who spent “millions”—at least nine luxury vehicles worth $1.6 million, five European vacations worth $104,338, $279,978 worth of event tickets, $121,712 worth of jewelry, and $40,020 in champagne. For these favors, the casino was also fined $450,000.)

Even so, Trump to this day claims he doesn’t know LiButti.

“During the years I very successfully ran the casino business, I knew many high rollers. I assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I don’t recognize the name,” Trump said, via a spokesperson, in an email to Yahoo.

But LiButti, in a 1991 conversation with someone secretly working with New Jersey police, indicated otherwise.

“I’m very close with him,” LiButti said, adding later, “I told him this right in the helicopter with, ah, Ivana and my daughter one night.”

LiButti’s daughter also recalls spending quality time with Trump and his family.

“Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trump’s then wife] Ivana and the kids. My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City],” she told Yahoo. “My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there. After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump, but it pisses me off that he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.”

Those accounts are also corroborated by John R. O’Donnell, the former president of the Trump Plaza casino who wrote an anecdote in the 1991 book, “Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump — His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall,” about LiButti selling Trump a lame $500,000 horse

“Bob [LiButti] was selling him the horse, for sure,” O’Donnell confirmed to Yahoo. “Everything in the book is true.”

[Yahoo]

Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) _ Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was fined $200,000 on Wednesday for shuffling black and female dealers to accommodate the perceived preferences of a big- betting craps player.

″The violations are gravely serious,″ Casino Control Commissioner Valerie Armstrong said in a written decision. ″Racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace is an insidious evil that is contrary to the express public policies of the state in general and the casino industry in particular.″

Armstrong, who missed Wednesday’s hearing because of the death of her father, wrote her decision on the basis of earlier hearings. She recommended a $100,000 fine.

But the other commission members voted 3-1 to increase the fine to $200,000 for the casino’s behavior concerning Robert LiButti.

LiButti, a Secaucus consultant to racehorse investors, lost $12 million in the casinos over a six-year period. He was charged with insulting black and female dealers with racial slurs.

The casino was charged with accomodating LiButti switching black and female dealers from table to table to accommodate the high roller’s perceived preferences for white male dealers.

Commission Chairman Steve Perskie said the fine may send a message how far casinos can go to accommodate gamblers, including high rollers.

″Mr. LiButti’s conduct has repeatedly and dramatically affected the casino operation,″ Perskie said. ″There are, or ought to be, certain things out of the reach of Mr. LiButti’s money.″

The fine came despite a ruling last year by Administrative Law Judge Lillard Law that the state Division of Gaming Enforcement failed to prove any allegations of discrimination.

Trump Plaza attorney Brian Spector cited Law’s finding as argued before the commission.

″There is no credible evidence that any of the individuals in the complaint were moved for race or sex,″ Spector said. ″Trump Plaza is being fined for the aura of discrimination.″

The division charged that LiButti’s alleged tirades against black and female dealers prompted the casino to discriminate between 61 and 67 times for two years ending in May 1988.

The division had sought fines of between $10,000 and $15,000 for each violation, which would have meant a fine between $610,000 and $1 million.

Employees testified that the casino’s policy changed in the summer of 1988, and it began requiring that black dealers replace black dealers and female dealers replace female dealers who were moved because of objections from LiButti.

The employees said that policy followed newspaper stories about a similar complaint filed against Caesars Hotel Casino, which was eventually fined $250,000 for its actions with LiButti. Trump Plaza said it wanted to be sensitive to its black and female dealers.

Testimony indicated Libutti threw fits when losing, flinging dice and chips as well as breaking the stick used to gather the dice. The division complaint also listed several epithets LiButti allegedly made that refer to blacks, Jews, Orientals and women.

LiButti has admitted insulting workers with racist and sexist slurs, but denied he was prejudiced or demanded only white male dealers on his table.

He has been temporarily banned from the casinos pending a hearing on the slurs and on allegations he has ties to organized crime.

Perskie initially had asked that the gaming division file a complaint seeking exclusion based just upon LiButti’s racist and sexist statements. Such a move would expand the commission’s power to exclude patrons based upon criminal convictions, casino cheating, or organized crime ties.

Trump Fined For Casino Money Laundering Scandal

LiButti has denied links to organized crime. He said he was only ″puffing″ when he mentioned reputed New York mobster John Gotti’s name four times in conversations with Trump executives and threatened problems for the Trump Organization.