In the brief 18 months that it was in the world, Trump Mortgage managed to inspire at least one successful lawsuit against it, according to an article in Bloomberg by Heather Perlberg.
In the article, Jennifer McGovern, 44, described that she worked in the boutique part of the business, where people housed in their own offices dealt with high-end real estate agents and attorneys.
From the piece:
McGovern sued Trump Mortgage in early 2007. She had brokered a $26.5 million commercial loan that should have given her a $238,000 payment, she said. Trump Mortgage told her to accept a $10,000 commission instead.
When she refused, she said Ridings fired her on the spot. McGovern won a court judgment in 2009 awarding her a payout close to $300,000. But by then the company had no assets, no office and no phone number.
Trump Mortgage launched in the spring of 2006 with much fanfare, and closed just 18 months later, leaving behind unpaid bills and broken promises.
The business was described in detail in a piece from The Washington Post, which explained that Trump Mortgage was a broker, not a lender, so records of its activities are scarce.
At the time, Trump was quoted saying:
“I think it’s a great time to start a mortgage company,” Trump told a CNBC interviewer in April 2006, adding that “the real estate market is going to be very strong for a long time to come.”
In the aftermath of Trump Mortgage shutting down, Trump distanced himself from the outcome, saying that he merely licensed his name to it, the Bloomberg piece stated.
“The mortgage business,” he said, “is not a business I particularly liked or wanted to be part of in a very big way.”
