Which Trump-owned companies filed for Chapter 11 and in what industries were they?

1. What the public record agrees on: repeated Chapter 11 filings tied to casinos and hotels

Contemporary reporting and later fact-checks consistently tie Trump’s Chapter 11 filings to casinos and hotel operations rather than personal bankruptcy. PolitiFact summarized four Chapter 11 filings (the Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, and Trump Entertainment Resorts) as core instances where Trump’s companies sought reorganization under Chapter 11 ^[2]. Other summaries and encyclopedic accounts list six Chapter 11 events spanning Atlantic City and New York casino/hotel businesses, underlining that the bankruptcies were corporate restructurings of hospitality/gaming assets ^{[4] [5]}.

2. Why some sources report four bankruptcies and others six: corporate structure and counting choices

Disagreement in counts stems from which legal entities and filings analysts treat as separate bankruptcies. The simpler four-count narrative focuses on major, widely publicized parent-company reorganizations (notably the 2004 Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts filing and the 2009 Trump Entertainment Resorts collapse) ^{[2] [3]}. Broader lists count individual properties — Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, Trump Castle, the Plaza Hotel in New York and their holding companies — producing totals up to six distinct Chapter 11 proceedings ^{[4] [6] [5]}.

3. Industries involved: casinos and hotels, not “personal” or unrelated businesses

All reviewed sources emphasize the bankrupt entities operated in casinos and hotels (Atlantic City casinos and New York hotels). Reporting characterizes these filings as industry-specific responses to overleverage in gaming and hospitality, not personal consumer bankruptcy by Donald Trump ^{[1] [5] [4]}. Legal and media explanations stress Chapter 11’s role as a corporate reorganization tool for businesses in distress, particularly capital-intensive casinos and large hotels ^{[5] [7]}.

4. What the filings aimed to achieve: debt restructuring and continued operation

Sources explain that the Chapter 11 filings were reorganization measures intended to restructure heavy debt loads while allowing properties to keep operating. For example, the 2004 filing of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts reorganized roughly $1.8 billion of debt under a prepackaged plan; earlier 1990s filings were tied to junk-bond financing and steep interest burdens on new casino projects ^{[8] [5] [3]}.

5. Competing interpretations and political use of the count

Political campaigns and commentators have used different numbers selectively. Some political opponents and fact sheets emphasized “six” corporate bankruptcies to suggest a pattern of failed ventures, while Trump and allies often framed the smaller number and the filings themselves as savvy use of bankruptcy law to save businesses ^{[2] [9]}. PolitiFact notes Trump has said “I used the law four times,” which aligns with one line of counting; other fact compilations and encyclopedic entries record six filings based on how entities are delineated ^{[2] [4]}.

6. Limits of available sources and what we cannot confirm here

Available sources supplied in this packet do not provide complete court dockets or a single authoritative legal tally reconciling corporate affiliates and successor entities, so precise legal counting can vary by methodology; that ambiguity explains divergent public totals ^{[6] [4]}. Detailed bankruptcy case numbers, filings and court conclusions are not included in the supplied excerpts and thus are "not found in current reporting" here ^{[1] [5]}.

7. Bottom line for readers: settle on industry, note the counting dispute

Reporters and fact-checkers agree the Chapter 11 filings involved casinos and hotels owned or controlled by Trump’s businesses; disagreement exists only in counting distinct corporate filings (four widely cited versus up to six in more granular lists) ^{[2] [4] [5]}. When citing a number, state which methodology you follow — “four major corporate Chapter 11 filings” (PolitiFact’s framing) or “up to six related Chapter 11 proceedings involving hotel and casino entities” (encyclopedic and some legal summaries) — and cite the source you used ^{[2] [4]}.