Nonprofit files lawsuit after man fails to pay for Trump portraits he bid on

A nonprofit has filed a lawsuit after a man who bid at an auction last month on paintings of President Trump and the first lady allegedly failed to pay for the portraits.

The lawsuit was filed by The Truth About Israel, the nonprofit that sponsored the February gala charity auction at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Attorney Jonathan Bloom wrote in the lawsuit filed last week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court that Timothy Lane is “in breach of his agreement with The Truth About Israel to allow it to charge his American Express credit card for the purchase of the two paintings.”

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Lane — who bid $21,530 for the 6-foot paintings of Trump and first lady Melania Trump — claimed he became skeptical after the organization could not provide him its federal tax identification number.

“I asked for the tax-exempt number for tax purposes,” Lane told the Palm Beach Daily News in a recent interview.

“They couldn’t give it to me. Nobody seemed to know what it was or where it was, so I told them not to run the credit card until I had the number. I’m still waiting,” he said.

Businessman Steven Alembik, who organized the auction for The Truth About Israel, denied Lane’s claims.

“The tax ID has been provided to him,” Alembik said. “He can come up with all the excuses he wants. At the end of the day, he’s going to pay. He’s going to court and he’s going to lose.”

He added: “If the guy reneges, the charity has to pay for it.”

The Truth About Israel is a nonprofit that seeks to “educate and train the public about the facts of Israel in today’s world,” according to its website.