NJ wants to revoke Trump Golf Club’s liquor license due to crimes in NY

• The liquor licenses for Donald Trump’s golf clubs in New Jersey are all in the name of his eldest son.
• However, given that Trump is a felon, this may not be enough to protect the clubs.
• Officials in New Jersey now say Trump’s criminal record prohibits him from profiting from liquor licenses.

The liquor licenses for Donald Trump’s three New Jersey golf courses are in the name of his eldest son, not his own, according to documents obtained by Business Insider.

But hiding behind Donald Trump Jr. is not enough to protect the elder Trump.

On Friday, government officials said Trump’s new criminal record prevented him from profiting from the licenses.

They announced that they will not renew the licenses for Trump National Bedminster and Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck due to the hush money conviction last month.

The two clubs are allowed to continue serving alcohol until a hearing on July 19 on the two licenses, which expire on Sunday.

The liquor license for Trump’s third restaurant, Trump National Philadelphia – located 45 minutes outside the city in Pine Hill, New Jersey – was renewed by that district on June 3, just four days after he was convicted on 34 counts of criminal business fraud.

The license renewal apparently took place at the last minute due to a timing coincidence.

Only after the verdict, scheduled for July 11, can any official in New Jersey revoke Trump’s liquor license, a spokesman for the state’s attorney general’s office said.

So far, the state has not taken any action against the Pine Hill license.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s office regulates liquor licenses through its Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced two weeks ago that all three licenses would be reviewed by his office.

At the time, Trump dismissed the importance of this review, saying through a spokesman that he “does not hold a liquor license in New Jersey, nor is he an officer or director of any establishment that holds a liquor license in New Jersey – or anywhere in the United States.”

But on Friday, New Jersey authorities discovered something different.

“A review by ABC shows that Mr. Trump, as the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, has a direct economic interest in the three liquor licenses by receiving revenues and profits from them,” the attorney general’s spokesman said.

Crimes of “moral turpitude”

Under state liquor laws, a license can be revoked if someone who holds the license or benefits financially from it is convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude.”

The licenses for Trump’s clubs in New Jersey are at risk under both criteria, given his financial interests in the clubs and his new criminal record, experts told Business Insider.

According to his own sworn testimony, Trump is the sole financial beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, the umbrella company that owns the entire Trump Organization, including the three LLCs that own the clubs’ liquor licenses.

After leaving the White House, Trump served as sole trustee for several months, but then stepped down in July 2021, leaving his eldest son to serve as sole trustee while his criminal and civil investigations intensified in New York, Georgia, Washington, DC, and Florida.

Yet he testified at his New York civil fraud trial in October that Trump is the “sole beneficiary” of the trust and its assets. That is, if his liquor licenses thrive, so does Trump, unlike everyone else at Trump Org, who only receives a salary.

Trump’s obvious failures in terms of moral turpitude also put him in danger.

“Convictions of serious crimes are generally viewed as crimes of moral turpitude,” said Peter M. Rhodes, a partner at the Haddonfield, New Jersey-based law firm Cahill, Wilinski, Rhodes & Joyce.

Given his felony conviction, “If the license is owned by a trust whose sole beneficiary is Donald Trump, then I think that violates the ABC laws,” said Rhodes, whose firm has served as legal counsel to the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association for 50 years.

Trump’s three New Jersey licenses are owned by LLCs, and from records reviewed by BI, Trump’s namesake son is the president and license signatory for each of those licenses.

The last time Trump nearly lost all three of his licenses in New Jersey was in 2021.

This year, Trump was allowed to keep the licenses after battling with state authorities for more than five years following the fatal car crash of a club-goer while under the influence of alcohol in 2015.

State officials said a golfer at the Colts Neck Club was given too much to drink by one of the club’s roving golf carts that serve alcohol. The golfer jumped a curb on the way home and overturned his Mini Cooper, throwing his own father from the car and killing him.

Trump’s three Jersey golf courses ultimately retained their licenses under an agreement with Platkin’s predecessor, former Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, who resigned shortly after the settlement was approved.

As part of the settlement, the Colts Neck golf course agreed to serve alcohol only indoors, provide training for its employees and pay a $400,000 fine.

Documents reviewed by BI show that the final installment of this $100,000 fine is due in October.

The agreement is unusual, said former New Jersey Deputy Attorney General William Fay, now a lawyer specializing in the law governing alcohol licensing.

Anyone who serves too much beer and thereby causes fatal accidents on the road will likely face having their driving license revoked, as Fay noted after the agreement.

“Given that Trump’s New Jersey golf course generated approximately $25 million in revenue in 2020 alone, this settlement seems like a fraction of the cost given the tragedy that occurred,” he wrote.

Donald Trump Jr. did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The law firm that manages Trump’s liquor licenses in New Jersey did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.