Trump Revealed: on Jobs

1990: fined $65,000 for money-laundering via casino chips

The gray chips were not to gamble-but were another emergency strategy to funnel cash to Fred's hard-pressed son. But if he simply gave the money as a gift, it would be siphoned off to the Castle's many creditors. Depositing the cash into a gambling account was a way to sidestep them.

Years later, Trump contended that propping up the Castle with millions in his father's chips had been Fred's idea. "My father said, 'Oh, let me do it, it's easy with the chips,'" Trump said. As unprecedented as the episode was, the New Jersey casino commission concluded that it had violated only a rule intended to keep organized crime out of Atlantic City. The commission unanimously voted to fine Trump Castle $65,000.