Trump Name Taken Off Panama Hotel in Dramatic Fashion

A fierce dispute over a 70-story Trump-branded hotel in Panama ended Monday with armed police evicting Trump Organization staff from the building and a worker with a crowbar taking the word Trump off the outside of the building. The move followed a standoff between the Trump Organization, which had a management contract at the hotel in place until 2031, and majority owner Orestes Fintiklis, who wanted to fire the organization for alleged mismanagement, the Washington Post reports. Fintiklis, a Cypriot businessman who blamed the Trump name for a decline in bookings, told reporters a judge had settled the dispute in his favor. He then played a Greek anti-fascist anthem on a piano in the hotel lobby.

Fintiklis bought 202 of the hotel's 369 units last year before trying to fire the Trump Organization. As the dispute escalated last week, police were called to the building twice, ABC reports. The Trump Organization, which is run by President Trump's sons, accused Fintiklis of "mob-style tactics" and insisted that it would still be able to regain control of the hotel. "Trump Hotels remains fully confident that it will not only prevail, but recover all of its damages, costs, and attorney's fees, including those ... arising from today's events," the company said in a statement. (The US ambassador to Panama is resigning because of Trump.)