Roger Khafif, president of Newland who led the development, attributed the building’s problems to the decline of the Panamanian economy. "It would have been much nicer and much better if we would have finished the building before the crisis," Khafif said in an interview. "It probably would have been the best real estate project in Latin America.”
Trump’s son Eric said in an interview that it was a big success, pointing to a study that their hotel outperformed other local luxury hotels in December. He added that both in Toronto and Panama, "We were brought in to be a great manager and be the best hotel in these respective cities and we’ve done a great job with that."
The condo owners’ association in Panama moved to dismiss Trump’s management company last year, claiming it exceeded budgets and used its fees to cover hotel costs. Trump, in response, is seeking $75 million in damages through a claim with the International Chamber of Commerce court of arbitration in Paris. Trump reported more than $5 million on royalties and $896,440 in management fees from the Panama deal in his financial disclosures from January 2014 to July 2015.
Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic where a planned Trump Tower was set to open last year, Trump signed with Anar Mammadov, the 34-year-old son of the country’s transport minister and chief executive officer of Garant Holding. The deal paid Trump a $2.5 million management fee, according to Trump’s financial disclosures.
Rich Kauzlarich, a former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, said in an interview, "If someone came to me and asked about doing business with Anar Mammadov, I would say, ‘Do some due diligence on the companies he claims he’s associated with.’” Mammadov and Garant didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment.
Trump defended his choice: "You can do due diligence and find the Willie Mays of development and they can turn out not to be good because they’re having a bad moment." Trump said the tower is on hold, but could resume if the economy improves.
Scotland and Ireland
Trump’s golf courses in Scotland and Ireland offer a different set of issues. There, he did not sell rights to use his name; he invested. But he is losing money, according to income statements filed in the U.K. and Ireland.
In financial disclosures required for his presidential bid, Trump claimed income of $20.3 million from Trump Turnberry, a course he bought for about 41 million pounds ($58 million) in 2014. Yet the accounts for Golf Recreation Scotland, which owns the course, show a loss of 3.6 million pounds for 2014.