How Trump's company tricked investors
Matt Krantz
USA TODAY
1:14 p.m. EDT June 24, 2016
... One of his most high-profile companies was the first U.S. corporation to be accused of using "pro forma" accounting to exaggerate results and mislead investors.
Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, a once publicly traded company whose shares dropped more than 90% when the firm sought bankruptcy protection, was charged in 2002 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for reporting financial results in a way that made it appear the company was doing better than Wall Street analysts expected due to "operational improvements," the complaint said. But that was a "false and misleading impression" that initially fooled investors into driving the stock price higher, the SEC said.
The case ushered in a series of changes that govern all publicly traded companies over how they must disclose any adjustments to so-called "pro forma" numbers. Using pro forma figures is a common practice where companies strip out any unusual non-recurring gains or losses, claiming it’s a way to show how the core business is actually doing. Companies that use such results are required to detail all of the adjustments that are made.
The SEC’s action against Trump Hotels centered around an Oct. 25, 1999, news release where the company disclosed its quarterly net income and earnings per share. The release stated that the net income figures left out an $81.4 million one-time charge. However, the SEC said that the release made no mention of the fact that the reported numbers included a one-time gain of $17.2 million resulting from the termination of a restaurant lease with the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City. And by revealing the excluded charge, the SEC said the company intentionally misled investors to believe there were no other adjustments ...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/06/24/trumps-company-tricked-investors-heres-how/86058802/
