Donald Trump Faces Lawsuit From Trump SoHo Buyers

More trouble for Donald Trump and disgruntled condo buyers. This time the project in question is one of Trump's newest, the recently opened Trump SoHo New York. The NY Times reports that a group of 15 buyers at the Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium project have filed a complaint saying that individuals behind the project inflated sales figures during the early part of the sales process making the project look like it had more sales than it did. Buyers only learned that just 15 percent of the building had been sold after the offering plan become effective in May. In the suit the buyers say that they would not have bought the units if they had been aware of the low sales numbers. The buyers are looking to have their contracts rescinded and deposits returned as well as other damages and fees.

Donald Trump's children Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are also named in the suite along with the Bayrock/Sapir Organization LLC, which is the project's sponsor. A lawyer for the Bayrock/Sapir Organization says that there are more than 100 contracts signed (representing about 25 percent of the building sold) but that the company decided to report only the minimum 15 percent to the attorney general's office.

The Trump SoHo Hotel Condominium is a unique project. The units start at more than $1 million for a studio but buyers can only stay in their units for 120 days a year, and for no more than 29 days in a 36-day period. The rest of the time the units are in use as hotel rooms.

Donald Trump has faced several lawsuits in the past from condo buyers. In several cases Trump lent his name to projects that he was not directly involved in and when buyers became aware of this they filed suit. Trump was also in hot water over the failed Trump Ocean Baja Resort project, a lavish condo planned in Mexico which was never built.