News

Panamanian judge says Trump lawyers threatened her over hotel dispute

A Panamanian judge involved in a dispute over the Trump Organization’s management of a 70-story luxury hotel was threatened by lawyers from the company, according to a complaint filed with the country’s chief prosecutor.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Marisol Carrera filed a report with the anti-corruption division of Panama’s prosecutor general’s office that stated she felt “intimidated and threatened” when lawyers from a firm representing the Trump Organization berated her and her staff in her office after she ruled against the company.

{mosads}According to Carrera, the abuse from the Trump Organization’s lawyers in Panama continued after she called the police to defuse the situation. Trump’s attorneys in the country denied any misconduct in a statement to the AP, while the Trump Organization’s general counsel did not respond to a request for comment.

“The lawyers were never disrespectful, nor rude, nor did we make any sort of threats nor intimidation like the kind we are falsely accused of,” read a statement from Panama City law firm Britton & Iglesias, which represented the Trump Organization in the case.

The Trump Organization’s staff and security officials were evicted from the Trump International Hotel in Panama earlier this month, ending a 12-day legal standoff that frequently resulted in clashes between rival security forces at the hotel, according to news reports.

The majority owner of the hotel had been fighting to oust the Trump Organization for months, but the company refused to give up physical control of the hotel which it has managed for years.

In early March, the building’s owners were escorted into the hotel by police and judicial officials, who ordered the Trump Organization to vacate the premises that day. Photos of the Trump name being physically removed from the site went viral shortly thereafter.