And the money he Trump owes to people who worked on his property's is unbelievable.
Executive summary
The scale and persistence of judgments, liens and lawsuits alleging unpaid bills tied to Donald Trump’s properties is striking: hundreds of contractors have claimed unpaid work, mechanic’s liens filed exceed 200, and historic cases around the Taj Mahal alone left millions unresolved — figures extensively documented in local and national reporting [1][2][3]. At the same time, defenders note routine business disputes and occasional payments after litigation, and some reporting links political or advocacy motives to how these episodes are characterized [4][5].
1. The headline numbers: hundreds of workers, dozens of liens, millions at stake
Investigations and contemporaneous reporting catalog a large volume of unpaid-bill claims across decades: USA Today and other outlets reported “hundreds of workers and contractors” accusing Trump businesses of refusing payment [3], a review found more than 200 mechanic’s liens filed against Trump entities since the 1980s [1], and coverage of the Taj Mahal construction lists about $70 million owed to roughly 253 contractors who in turn hired thousands of workers [2].
2. The Taj Mahal as a focal example — lost wages, settlements and alleged tax gains
The Taj Mahal saga has become emblematic: some contractors say they were ultimately paid only a fraction of what they were owed, with individual settlements for workers averaging about $800 and up to $3,000 in certain cases according to court records cited by reporting [1], while long-form reporting and tax analysis argue that roughly $49 million of a claimed loss tied to the Taj was likely unpaid bills that produced a tax benefit for Trump under rules applicable before 2002 [6].
3. More recent and local cases: Doral and individual victories
State and union reporting highlights more recent contractor disputes tied to Trump properties, including painting contractors at Trump National Doral where one owner, Juan Carlos Enriquez, sued and prevailed for roughly $30,000 according to the United Steelworkers–linked account [5], showing that litigation sometimes yields judgments or settlements but that the process can be prolonged and partial in redress [5].
4. Explanations, defenses and competing narratives
Trump’s public defense has often been that reduced or withheld payments resulted from unsatisfactory work and that contractors were paid only when work met standards — a stance reflected in prior interviews and in the company’s counterclaims blaming subcontractors [3][1]. Observers such as a former New Jersey casino regulator said Trump’s nonpayment practices put suppliers out of business after Atlantic City, an assessment that critics use to characterize his model as predatory [5][2]. At the same time, some reporting notes that debt collection can be delayed or contested through legal maneuvers, and that not every alleged unpaid bill ends as an enforceable judgment [4].
5. Context, limits of the record and signals of motive
The available sources document patterns and notable case studies but do not present a single exhaustive ledger of every unpaid claim or every payment made, and some reporting comes from advocacy groups with explicit aims [5], which should be weighed against local journalism and court records cited in other pieces [1][2]. Legal analysts note there are many ways for wealthy defendants to delay or shift liabilities via bankruptcy, corporate structures or protracted appeals, and reporting of at least one sizable personal judgment being paid shows that some debts can be enforced when plaintiffs persist [4].
6. What the evidence supports: “unbelievable” is understandable, but not unqualified
Taken together, the documented volume of mechanic’s liens, the concentrated example of the Taj Mahal, illustrative wins by contractors like Enriquez, and contemporary inventories of suits make the claim that Trump owes or owed large sums to many workers and suppliers supportable and striking [1][2][5]; however, the record also shows contested reasons for nonpayment, occasional post-judgment payments, and structural legal avenues that complicate a simple tally of “what he owes” at any given moment [3][4].