What Trump said about Leona Helmsley’s tax evasion

The letter to Leona (more juicy excerpts in a moment) stems from (surprise) a financial dispute. To wit, casino magnate and multibillionaire developer Trump recently purchased a chunk of Atlantic City real estate from Penthouse International Ltd. for $56 million, and plans to convert an unfinished casino into a non-casino hotel. Included in the property is a small parcel owned by the Helmsleys that had been leased to Penthouse for 100 years. Trump charges that Leona Helmsley has refused to transfer the lease to him, in what should be a routine transaction, out of sheer animosity. “I’m taking her to court,” Trump said in a telephone interview today from Atlantic City. “In the real estate business you don’t do that … The woman is a total disgrace to the industry and humanity. This is a bad woman.”