The Trump Organization filed a highly exaggerated claim of nearly US$1.3 million for damages to a golf course that cost only a fraction of the payout, insiders familiar with the matter have claimed.
Sources that asked not to be identified reached out to Rolling Stone, saying that when a flood occurred at Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, NY in 2011, the company made a claim for almost US$1.3 million. However, the two insiders said that Trump Organization spent only about US$130,000 to US$150,000 for the actual repairs to the golf course.
One of the insiders, a former employee, added that superficial repairs were made to the damaged portions of the golf course, and that the repair work was not even completed.
“They basically band-aided it,” the ex-employee said.
The other insider explained that the insurer withheld a portion of the payout because the Trump Organization failed to show the required receipts. Both sources have direct knowledge of Trump Organization’s operations, Rolling Stone said.
One of the sources also revealed that they had learned in a conversation with top company officials that the Trump Organization had calculated that it received over US$2 back for every dollar spent on insurance. The insider went on to say that Trump Organization viewed insurance not as an expense, but as an ongoing source of profit.
Neither of the insiders have knowledge of the Trump Organization’s insurer for its Briarcliff Manor golf course, since all claims were handled by the brokerage Aon. Rolling Stone has reached out to Trump Organization and Aon for details on the insurer, but both declined to name the company.
While the Trump Organization would not name its insurer, a representative said that the company is “not aware” of any investigation into the insurance claim in question – “nor should there be an investigation,” the representative prefaced in an email statement.
“The insurance claim at issue was amicably resolved more than a decade ago following a series of well-chronicled storms across Westchester County that dumped more than five inches of rain on the Village of Briarcliff Manor causing extensive damage and flooding at the golf course and surrounding areas,” the representative said in an email to Rolling Stone.
