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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The contractor who provided the onion domes for the Taj Mahal casino had to eat $2 million in losses. The contractor who supplied the Carrara marble from Italy ended up filing for personal bankruptcy. The contractor who put in the restroom partitions had to lay off his brother.

A quarter of a century has passed since Donald Trump refused to pay in full 253 contractors who helped build his Taj in Atlantic City. But for many of them, it could have happened yesterday.

"We got next to nothing," said Michael MacLeod, whose 40-person studio made the giant elephant statues at the casino's entrance. "I took a big hit."

After the Taj opened in April 1990, the self-anointed King of Debt owed $70 million to contractors employing thousands who built the domes and minarets, put up the glass and drywall, laid the pipes and installed everything from chandeliers to bathroom fixtures. A year later, when the casino collapsed into bankruptcy, those owed the most got only 33 cents in cash for each dollar owed, with promises of another 50 cents later. It took years to get the rest, assuming the companies survived long enough to collect.

Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks and Trump attorney Alan Garten would not comment for this article.