A Trump Mystery Only Prosecutors Can Unwind

Derek Thompson: “Starting about 10 years ago, the so-called King of Debt tried something new: spending his own money. He spent up to $400 million buying golf courses, hotels, and wineries. He also took on $400 million in personally guaranteed loans, exposing him to personal bankruptcy in the (very common!) event that he can’t pay back the loans in full.”

“These decisions are unusual for private real-estate companies, which typically take advantage of debt through the tax code and funnel their largest investments through partnerships that protect individual investors from personal bankruptcy. What’s more, it’s not clear how Trump suddenly came up with all of that cash.”

“It gets even weirder. All those golf properties look like horrendous businesses, having declared losses of more than $315 million since 2000, according to Trump’s tax records. In short, Trump is pouring a mysteriously large amount of money into opaque businesses suffering mysteriously high losses.”