Trump's Angry Apprentice

Richard Fields is battling his former mentor over a $1 billion stake in Indian casinos

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December 12, 2005 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Richard T. Fields could have been a real-life forerunner to Donald Trump's reality show, The Apprentice. From 1995 to 1999, he learned the casino business at The Donald's side as a consultant, and the pair had visions of expanding Trump's New Jersey-based gaming operation nationwide. And why not? They were tight. Fields, a show biz promoter, advised Marla Maples, Trump's second wife. And Fields' wife, Meeka, was in the room with Maples when she delivered daughter Tiffany.

But this partnership has turned rockier than anything depicted in Trump's TV boardroom. A cozy relationship has given way to a blood feud, rife with allegations of dishonesty. Locked in an ongoing legal battle over a Florida casino project, Trump and Fields have filed dueling briefs that reveal the depth of their animosity. At stake: more than $1 billion.