Panama Hotel Owner Declares Victory and Trump’s Name Is Removed
PANAMA CITY — A workman wielding a crowbar pried off the silver T-R-U-M-P name from the Trump International Hotel
and Tower here in Panama City on Monday as the majority owner of the hotel declared victory in his fight to oust the American president’s family business as managers of the property.
And in a statement issued hours after the Monday morning drama, the company said
that the Panamanian court order authorized “the appointment of a temporary, third party administrator to oversee the management of the property while the underlying dispute is being litigated.”
Still, the Panama brawl has dealt a blow to the Trump brand, which has receded since Mr. Trump became president.
In Panama on Monday, in the hotel’s 15th-floor sky lobby, Mr. Fintiklis
and the contingent of court officials and police officers headed toward the administrative office where security guards employed by the Trump Organization had been posted for more than a week around the clock.
The Monday showdown at the hotel began with the arrival of the majority owner, Orestes Fintiklis, 39, followed by a contingent of court officials
and police officers — and a Panamanian court order authorizing a change of administration.
By KIRK SEMPLE, STEVE EDER and BEN PROTESSMARCH 5, 2018
With a hammer and a crowbar, the Trump name was pried off a Panama City hotel amid a
contentious dispute between the Trump Organization and the hotel’s majority owner.
The dispute traces to October 2016, when the original developer of the hotel told the Trump Organization
that it was negotiating a sale of 202 of the hotel’s 369 condominium units to Mr. Fintiklis.