Trump Claims Victory; Will Ivana Get Spoils?

Mega-developer Donald Trump claimed victory Thursday in his marital war with ex-wife Ivana, a bedroom battle that in its heyday captured almost as many headlines as the Gulf War.

But the fight was not over; Ivana’s lawyers denied that the settlement--reported at $14 million--was reached.

Property developer Trump and his lawyers announced the financial settlement with Ivana that they said would be signed late Thursday.

But Ivana’s lawyer, Michael Kennedy, said there had been no settlement; he issued a cryptic statement indicating that no matter what The Donald says, there are still troubles ahead.

“Contrary to the statements of Mr. Trump and his lawyers, the case has not settled and will not settle until Mr. Trump honors his obligations to Mrs. Trump and her children,” the statement said.

A spokeswoman would not answer questions on the implications of the statement.

Legal experts said it sounded as if Kennedy feared that Trump’s financial difficulties would interfere with his ability to honor every detail of the financial settlement.

Trump, his empire battered by brushes with bankruptcy and personally restricted to a $450,000 monthly allowance, says that under the settlement, Ivana will get the couple’s 45-room Connecticut mansion, the furniture, an apartment in New York and $10 million in immediate cash.

Then she will get alimony and child support payments totaling $650,000 a year and $4 million more as a “housing allowance.”

Trump’s lawyer, Stanford Lotwin, says that all adds up to victory.

“We went through 13 months of intense litigation, and in the end she accepted provisions of the agreement she could have had back in February, 1990,” Lotwin told reporters.

Trump says he is pleased with the settlement and that despite all the turmoil going on in his empire, he might be the only real estate developer in the country still able to write a check for $10 million. “I’m honored to be doing it,” he said.

The settlement sticks to the terms of a prenuptial agreement the couple signed before they were married 12 years ago and revised in 1987.