Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO Bob Griffin (below) has basically flung himself at the feet of Carl Icahn and begged the billionaire to keep funding Trump Taj Mahal “well into 
2015,” while Unite-Here‘s appeal of a bankruptcy court ruling is adjudicated, maybe longer. (If I were Icahn, I’d like to know what I’m getting in return.) Icahn’s ultimatum of ‘Give me tax breaks or I’ll kill this casino’ having fallen upon deaf ears in Trenton, there’s a serious danger the Taj will close this Saturday. This may not be cause for grief among other Boardwalk operators, all of whom stand to inherit what little business the Taj still does.
In yet another of his open letters, Griffin wrote, “The state, city and the union have all abandoned us. You are our last hope to find a solution that will keep the Taj open and save these 3,000 jobs.” Say what you like, the man has a flair for melodrama. However, he needs to work on his persuasive skills. Telling Icahn that the Taj loses $10 million a month isn’t a strong selling point. Griffin’s compromise offer to the union, meanwhile, channeled the Christmas spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge.
In return for renewed health coverage and pension contributions, Local 54 would have to accede to “increased room-cleaning quotas … outsource more jobs, and the elimination of 
paid meal breaks.” It’s as if the ghost of Columbia Sussex had just blown back into town. (“Why couldn’t [ownership] hire Merry Maids to clean the rooms?”, asked one union member.) No wonder union President Robert McDevitt has been intransigent. He can scarce afford to give away the store to Griffin with four labor contracts (Borgata, Harrah’s Resort, Golden Nugget and Resorts Atlantic City) expiring on March 15 — not to mention with a Caesars Entertainment bankruptcy looming as a near certainty.
“I believe that if we can keep the Taj open, our company will emerge from bankruptcy as a viable going concern, which will benefit [Icahn], this city, this state, and all of our employees,” wrote Griffin, whose tenure at TER threatens to end with the company’s extinction. Icahn, meanwhile, is resisting any urges to negotiate with Griffin through the media.
* If you don’t think the remark, “[I]began to really get concerned about the risk I was taking with clients’ money under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and a variety of other, you 
know, aspects of exactly how business is done there” in Macao constituted a slanderous slam on Steve Wynn, there’s a federal judge in San Francisco who agrees with you. A suit by Wynn against hedge fund manager Jim Chanos has been “a significant inferential leap to conclude that Chanos’s general uncertainty about the questionable business methods in Macao equates to an assertion that Wynn violated the FCPA,” according to District Judge William Orrick. Chanos isn’t out of the woods yet. Wynn Resorts is practically licking its chops over having a month to appeal. Promises company spokesman Michael Weaver, “We intend to take advantage of that opportunity.”
* For those of you who missed yesterday’s announcement that Hakkasan Group had indeed bought Light Group from Morgans Hotel Group, and for a bargain $36 million, here’s the skinny. It’s a heckuva deal for Hakkasan, which goes from eight properties to 30, most of them affiliated with MGM Resorts International.
