Owners of hotel want to dump Trump title

PANAMA: Owners of the Trump International Hotel in Panama City are trying to strip United States President Donald Trump’s name from the building and remove his company from management.

When it was completed in 2011, the 70-floor building was Trump’s first international hotel venture, a complex including apartments and a casino in a waterfront building that has earned Trump between US$30 million and US$50m.

In August this year, Miamibased Ithaca Capital Partners completed its purchase of the hotel amenities and the majority of the units in the Trump International Hotel.

In October, Ithaca proposed removing the Trump Organisation’s directors from the hotel board and sending a notice of default to Trump, to begin terminating his link to the property, after complaints over alleged mismanagement.

Trump licensed his brand to the luxury project and provided hotel management.

A Reuters investigation published this month found that alleged fraudster Alexandre Ventura Nogueira had sold between one-third and one-half of the advance sales for the Trump Ocean Club, as the complex including the hotel and apartments is known.

The story detailed how Nogueira did business with a Colombian money launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union.

Nogueira told how, in the project’s early days, he had participated in business meetings with Trump’s daughter Ivanka and that she had endorsed his recommendation to sell the apartments for a higher price.

The Trump Organisation said it did not remember Nogueria. –