NewCondo owners in Panama tell Trump: You're fired!

The directors of the Trump Ocean Club met on July 28 on urgent business. They needed to fire Donald Trump.

The building's residents and condo owners had invested in the namesake, a 70-storey waterfront tower facing Panama Bay, on the strength of Trump's reputation. But during the four years that Trump’s company had managed the property, Central America's largest building, a team installed by the Trump family was accused of running up more than US$2 million in unauthorised debts, paying its executives undisclosed bonuses and withholding basic financial information from owners.

The Trumps had done all of this through fine-print chicanery, the board said. A clause in many residents' purchase agreements prevented them from voting against the Trump company's wishes. That allowed the Trumps to install their top employee as chairman and the residents' representative on the board — even though the Trumps' actual stake in the building's residential area was merely a storage closet on the 15th floor.

The Trump Organization sent its response days later. “Your letter is a complete sham,” wrote Trumps' lawyer, Alan Garten. He accused the board of ingratitude and criminal trespassing. After refusing to accept being fired, Garten declared that Trump's company was quitting — and demanded a US$5 million termination fee.

Whether wheeling and dealing with Wall Street bankers, debating political rivals or running a condo association, Donald Trump has advanced his interests by leveraging his outsized reputation, canniness and aggression.

The Trump Organization's adventures in Panama provide a window into how these traits have filtered into his business empire. Transparency and close attention to expenses are not strengths. Squeezing the most from contractual language is.

Although Trump lists himself as a managing member in the Panama business in financial disclosure documents, the company in practice is part of the Trumps' family business.