New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office said the governor had no involvement in or knowledge of a 2011 settlement that reduced a tax bill owed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s casinos in the state from close to $30 million the state had been seeking to $5 million.
The response comes after The New York Times reported earlier this week that the casinos’ tax bills tied to a decade-old case had swelled to $30 million owed by 2009 — a figure that was negotiated down to $5 million in 2011.
“The New York Times was told repeatedly that the governor was unaware and uninvolved in a bankruptcy matter which began in 2005 while he was United States Attorney and was settled, without the governor’s involvement, in 2011 by the New Jersey Department of Treasury and the Office of The Attorney General as a matter of course,” said Christie spokesman Brian Murray.
The paper reported this week that the state of New Jersey had been battling for years to collect tax bills from Mr. Trump’s casinos that had swelled to an estimated $30 million by 2009, and that public records don’t create a clear picture of how a settlement of $5 million was ultimately reached in 2011. Mr. Christie was elected governor in 2009.
“The New York Times once again shows their bias by using a complex bankruptcy settlement to weave a piece of political fiction,” Mr. Murray said. “They ignore this simple fact: Governor Christie had no knowledge of or involvement in the routine settlement of this matter by the State Treasurer and Attorney General.”
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Leland Moore, told the paper the settlement was approved largely because of the risks of continuing to fight in bankruptcy court and the “concerns about the future ability of the casinos to pay their tax debts.”
The article says the paper discovered the settlement agreement while reviewing documents filed in the bankruptcies of Mr. Trump’s casinos.
Mr. Christie and Mr. Trump are longtime friends. After ending his own 2016 presidential bid, Mr. Christie endorsed Mr. Trump in February and was among the finalists to be his vice presidential pick.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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