Owners of the former Trump hotel in Panama say the president's firm escaped the tax

The majority owners of the former Trump Hotel Panama – who last year withdrew the name of President Trump and his ties to his company – have discovered that they have uncovered old financial documents showing that the Trump organization was avoiding Panamanian taxes, according to a new legal file.

This complaint was filed Monday in federal court in New York by Orestes Fintiklis, a Cypriot investor whose company is the majority owner of the building once housing the Trump Ocean Club in Panama. In March 2018, Fintiklis attempted to fire the Trump Organization as the hotel's director, triggering a 10-day stalemate that included police visits, tight clashes between Fintiklis staff and his followers, as well as occasional piano concerts by Fintiklis in the lobby. Finally, a Panamanian judge gave him control.

Now the hotel is a Marriott. But Trump and Fintiklis are still suing for damages of millions of dollars, each accusing the other of violating their previous agreements.

In Monday's standings, Fintiklis said he was able to examine the hotel's books after evicting Trump employees. These books showed that the Trump organization did not pay Panama the 12.5% ​​tax charged on the management fees charged for the management of the hotel. Fintiklis said Trump also avoided taxes by under-reporting salaries paid to hotel employees.

In the deposit, Fintiklis does not give a dollar figure for the amount of taxes that Trump would have avoided. But he says his company could now face "millions of dollars of liability" if Panama demanded that it pay taxes that Trump did not have. Fintiklis also claims that the Panamanian authorities checked the books of the hotel and "highlighted the lack of withholding and payment of Trump's management fee income tax". But the filing offers no evidence of an audit of the Panamanian government. The Washington Post was not able to reach the Panamanian tax authorities Monday night.

Trump had he been honest? . . on the fact that he did not pay tax on the management fees he had earned and that he had failed to properly declare the salaries of the employees in Panamanian social security, "says Fintiklis. His company would not have bought his share of the hotel in 2017.

Trump's company denied Monday any wrongdoing.

"The Trump organization has avoided any taxes. To the extent that all taxes were to be withheld, this was the responsibility of the building owners, said company spokeswoman Kim Benza in an e-mail. "The only role of the Trump Organization was to manage the property. We look forward to taking statements from Mr Fintiklis and his partners and exposing their fraud. "

Fintiklis's lawsuit also accuses Trump of misleading it in the months prior to its acquisition in the building, assuring it that the building outclassed the rest of the luxury hotel market in Panama. Instead, says Fintiklis, the hotel was falling to the bottom of the market. He also accuses Trump of underestimating the management fees it took to run the hotel.

Trump still owns the Trump Organization, although he has given day-to-day control to his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric.

Last year, after Trump lost control of the hotel, a lawyer from Trump's company wrote directly to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, asking him for help and suggesting that the Panamanian government could be held responsible for this loss. Varela said he had taken no action as a result, and Trump's lawyers then said they did so without first asking the Trump organization.