Judge, police evict Trump firm from hotel property
PANAMA CITY — Workers pried President Trump’s name from signs outside his family company’s luxury hotel in Panama on Monday, as Trump’s executives were ousted from their management offices in a business dispute under orders from Panamanian officials. Trump’s security guards also left.
The end to a 12-day standoff over control of the property came early in the day when a Panamanian judicial official and police officers backed the hotel’s majority owner, Orestes Fintiklis, as he took possession of the offices. The Trumpaffiliated management and security officials then left the 70-story, waterfront high-rise.
“This was purely a commercial dispute that just spun out of control,” said Fintiklis, an investor and head of the hotel owners’ association. “And today this dispute has been settled by the authorities and the judges of this country.”
The Trump Organization’s lawyers, however, said Panamanian courts have not decided the underlying dispute — a management contract held by the Trump group that it claims is still valid — and have only appointed an interim management until an international arbitration panel rules on the issue.
“Trump Hotels is totally convinced it will not only prevail, but that it should also be paid damages, costs and other charges related to today’s actions,” the lawyers said in a statement.
The hotel owners tried to fire Trump’s company last year, but the Trump Organization disputed the termination as legally invalid. As part of his fire sale purchase of 202 of the hotel’s 369 units, Fintiklis signed a February 2017 agreement not to challenge Trump’s management contract — a deal the Trump Organization considers binding.
Fintiklis changed course after the deal closed in August, arguing that alleged mismanagement by Trump’s staff and the deterioration of the Trump brand rendered keeping the property in Trump hands impossible. In late December, Trump’s management team ran off a team of Marriott hotel executives visiting the property at Fintiklis’ invitation.