Trump Resort in Miami Accused of Fraud After Bailing on Classic Rock Festival

A concert promoter is suing the Trump International Beach Resort in Miami over allegations that the hotel backed out of a classic rock event after months of promises to host it.

In a lawsuit filed Friday (Aug. 5) in Ohio federal court, 4U Promotions Inc. says that 18001 Holdings LLC – the entity that owns the Trump resort – is liable for fraud and other wrongdoing after it allegedly reneged on a deal to host the Decades of Rock & Roll Cruise Reunion this coming October.

Trump International made the promise to hold the event “knowing it was false,” 4U Promotions says, or with such an “utter disregard and recklessness for the truth” that the resort essentially should have known it was not being honest.

“The Trump Resort made a clear and unambiguous promise to 4UP,” the company wrote. “4UP relied on the promise of the Trump Resort.”

4U Promotions operates a cruise service called “Decades of Rock & Roll,” featuring several bands playing classic rock from the 1950s to the 1970s, including an Eagles cover band and an Elton John tribute act called Remember When Rock Was Young.

With its trademark cruises still postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s lawsuit says its marketing director Penny Greene approached Trump International sales director Maria Daniel Espina in February about hosting the stationary “Reunion” event in Miami from Oct. 6 to Oct. 10.

By late March, the lawsuit claims Greene and Espina had “agreed on the terms of a contract for the rooms and performance space for the Event” and decided to draw up formal paperwork. Believing that the deal was closed, 4U Productions says it started taking deposits, and that Espina repeatedly assured Greene that a formal contract was being prepared.

But by late last month, the paperwork still had not arrived, the lawsuit says.

“On or about July 25, 2022 at 1:52 pm, Ms. Greene sent an email Ms. Espina to report that Ms. Greene had not received the agreement by either physical mail or by email,” the company’s lawyers wrote. “On or about July 25, 2022 at 4:00 pm, Ms. Espina sent an email to Ms. Greene indicating that Ms. Espina ‘thought you [Ms. Greene] had found another venue’ and that the Trump Resort would not be honoring the ‘dates of October 6-10, 2022.’ Neither 4UP nor Ms. Greene had ever suggested to either the Trump Resort or Ms. Espina that 4UP had found another venue for the Event.”

According to its website, the Decades of Rock & Roll Cruise Reunion has since been rebooked at the Marriott Pompano Beach Resort Hotel & Spa, about an hour north of the original location in Miami.

A rep for the Trump International in Miami did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.

Read the entire lawsuit here: