Officials fight eviction from Panama hotel they manage

PANAMA CITY — One of President Donald Trump's family businesses is battling an effort to physically evict its team of executives from a luxury hotel in Panama where they manage operations, and police have been called to keep the peace. Witnesses said they saw Trump's executives carrying files to a room for shredding.

Representatives of the hotel owners' association formally sought to fire Trump's management team Thursday by hand-delivering termination notices to them at the Trump International Hotel and Tower, according to a Panamanian legal complaint filed by Orestes Fintiklis, who controls 202 of the property's 369 hotel units.

Trump's managers retreated behind the glass walls of an office where they were seen carrying files to an area where the sounds of a shredding machine could be heard, according to two witnesses aligned with the owners. The legal complaint also accused Trump's team of improperly destroying documents.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity.

Representatives of the Trump Organization declined to comment, but have previously called attempts to fire their management company illegal and said no change in the building's control would be appropriate without a decision from arbitrators or a judge.

Fintiklis did not respond to messages left by text or email.

The showdown is the newest low in a months-long fight over control of the property. Last August, Fintiklis' Miami-based Ithaca Capital Partners bought the 202 units in a fire sale from the property's struggling developer. As part of the deal, Trump Hotels sought and received some assurances that Ithaca would not seek to act against its interests as hotel manager.

Relations quickly soured amid abysmal hotel occupancy numbers and allegations by Ithaca and other hotel unit owners of financial mismanagement or misconduct. In October, Ithaca Capital led a push to terminate Trump Hotel's management contract and seek compensatory damages. Trump's company — which he still owns but does not directly control — refused to hand over control of the property, arguing that the vote to fire Trump Hotels was invalid.