Trump, bankruptcies, the school

Amesty brought Donald Trump Jr. in to promote her candidacy and attacked Braswell for having personal bankruptcies in the past. There’s a bit of irony about someone concerned about bankruptcies asking for an endorsement from a member of the Trump family. Still, I think financial track records are worth examining.

Braswell has four bankruptcy filings that date back to 1995. He said last week they happened for a couple of reasons, including failed efforts to start a new business after he came out of the Marine Corps and later during economic downturns. “When I got on my feet, I paid them off,” Braswell said. “It’s a life lesson I learned.”

When asked what he thinks voters should take away from the filings, the last of which a court processed in 2015, Braswell said: “I would tell them that I’m now a senior vice president at a financial institution. They didn’t hold that against me.” Braswell now reports a net worth of $743,000 with his employer VyStar Credit Union as his major source of income.

Amesty cites a worth of $3.7 million, most of which comes from a $3 million valuation she placed on a small chicken restaurant in northeast Orlando called Pollo Juan that appears to have closed. State records show her father, Juan — who’s also the president of Central Christian University — listed as a managing member of the eatery with his daughter.

Central Christian University, where Carolina is listed as a vice president, isn’t well known. The school’s website says it has campuses “worldwide.” But the “faculty” page of the site lists no members. And the most recent tax records for Central Christian University Inc. show total assets of $1.7 million in 2020 — which doesn’t seem like much for a global university that purchased a $1.3 million house for its president and his family two years later.