Trump Resorts planning to file for bankruptcy

Trump Entertainment Resorts, the company founded by Donald Trump, will file for bankruptcy again this week, people with knowledge of the situation said, putting a fifth Atlantic City casino in danger of shutting down. The company owns two properties in the struggling New Jersey resort town.

Trump Plaza is set to cease operations on September 16, and the Trump Taj Mahal may also shut in November, the people said. Three other casinos have closed in the city this year, including Caesars Entertainment's Showboat and the Revel Casino Hotel last week.

A Taj Mahal shutdown would put another 2,800 employees out of work in a city already losing 5,200 casino jobs this month. Moody's Investors Service cut the municipality's bond rating by two steps on July 23 to Ba1, the highest speculative standing.

"What happened to Atlantic City, there's a lot of competition from a lot of other locations," Trump said in a telephone interview. "It's happening all over." Trump has no active role managing the company.

Robert Grif fin, CEO of Atlantic City-based Trump Entertainment, declined to comment on the matter.

Trump, the 68-year-old real-estate tycoon and reality-TV star, began investing in Atlantic City in the early 1980s. His three casinos went through bankruptcy in the early 1990s, after opening the $1 billion Taj Mahal in a recession. This will be the third time the entire company was put into bankruptcy.