Mr Trump, renowned for his gravity-defying hair and opulent interior design, needs to secure a $400 million cash injection for his ailing casinos business to stave off the bankruptcy proceedings, according to a report by Ernst and Young, his auditor.

The entrepreneur has been in talks since February with Credit Suisse First Boston to refinance the massive debt.

The discussions are understood to have stalled, however, as bondholders are not happy with the plan.

But even if the bank agrees to lend Mr Trump the $400 million he needs, he would be forced to step down as chief executive of the casinos business and see his name removed from the company logo, while reducing his investment to a minority shareholding.

“The company has experienced increased competition, has incurred recurring operating losses and has a working capital deficit at December 31, 2003,” Ernst & Young wrote this week in a letter to the Trump Hotels board of directors.

Trump Hotels’ shares fell 12.5 per cent to $2.37 on the New York Stock Exchange in early trading yesterday amid mounting fears that the deal with CSFB could fail.

“Absent the successful completion of one of these alternatives,” Ernst & Young added, referring to the restructuring plan, “the company’s operating results will increasingly become uncertain. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

But even if the business fails, Mr Trump will remain one of the richest men in America with a personal fortune of $1.4 billion. He owns seven of the most famous skyscrapers in New York, which punctuate the Manhattan skyline with slivers of black and gold.

The interior of the Trump Tower at Columbus Circle is typical of his opulent, some would say tasteless, design. He is a fan of gold furnishings and has built an 80ft waterfall in the building’s atrium.

Mr Trump, who last week published a book entitled How To Get Rich, also owns the largest parcel of land in New York on the site of the former West Side Rail Yards.

The $5 billion project, which is to be known as Trump Place, will have 5,700 residential units and more than five million square feet of commercial space when it is complete.

The entrepreneur, who promotes himself as “the very definition of the American success story” is also producing a reality television show in the US called The Apprentice, in which 16 candidates are competing for the chance of a $250,000 salary with the Trump Organisation Mr Trump declined to comment when contacted by The Times last night.

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