In this Dec. 1987, file photo, Donald Trump, right, pictured with his father, Fred Trump, left, and boxing promoter Don King participate in news conference in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo, File)
Former President Donald Trump today would be considered a nepo baby (or nepotism baby), as his fortune and fame–and career in real estate– were derived from that of his New York real estate mogul father, Fred Trump.
Fred was a Bronx-born real estate and construction magnate. But he was also known as a racist landlord, and he had also been arrested–another thing the late father and son have in common.
On April 4, Donald Trump surrendered himself for arrest to New York authorities on charges stemming from the investigation of hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
This is just one of a string of legal issues Trump has faced.
In 1973 a federal lawsuit was brought against Trump and his company for alleged racial discrimination against African Americans at Trump housing developments in New York.
The Justice Department sued Trump, his father, and Trump Management in order to obtain a settlement in which Trump and his father would promise not to discriminate. Two years later, the case was finally settled after Trump tried to countersue the Justice Department for $100 million for making false statements. Trump’s lawsuit was dismissed, NPR reported.
The DOJ lawsuit was based on evidence gathered by testers for the New York City Human Rights Division, which alleged that Black people who went to Trump buildings were told there were no apartments available while white people were offered units.
Fred’s legal problems go way back. Fred was arrested twice, in 1927 during a Ku Klux Klan riot and in 1976 over code violations at a building he owned in Maryland, The Washington Post reported.
In the 1976 case, Fred, 70, was arrested in Prince George’s County, Md., for failing to fix housing-code violations.
In 1927, Fred, then 21 years old, was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally that turned violent in Queens, New York City. Fred was arrested on a charge of “refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so,” according to a newspaper report at the time. According to a newspaper report at the time, it was unclear from the context what role Fred played in the brawl.
But there’s more. Fred was also accused of laundering casino chips in the 1990s in order to help his casino developer son Donald. According to a Wall Street Journal report from 1991, Fred bought more than $3 million in chips from one of his son’s casinos to help him make a bond payment.
Fred allegedly gave more than $3 million to an attorney to buy the casino chips on Dec. 17, 1991, at Trump Castle Casino Resort By The Bay. This move gave the younger Trump enough cash to make an $18.4 million payment due bondholders in the casino, the Associated Press reported.
In this Dec. 1987, file photo, Donald Trump, right, pictured with his father, Fred Trump, left, and boxing promoter Don King participate in news conference in Atlantic City, N.J. (AP Photo, File)
