The Saudi prince whom the Trump Organization sued last month for falling behind on rent says he turned over control of the luxury apartment at Trump Park Avenue back in December.
Bloomberg reported that Faisal bin Abdul Majeed al-Saud asked a Manhattan judge this week to dismiss the suit against him, which includes a claim of almost $2 million in so far unpaid rent.
The Trump Organization alleges that al-Saud agreed to extend his lease until 2019 and thus demands the full rent amount through that time. But al-Saud now says he was never notified that he was in default on his rent and handed in the keys months ago. Furthermore, the Trump Organization kept his $200,000 security deposit, he claims.
The penthouse in question at Trump Park Avenue measures more than 7,000 square feet. In the new court filing, al-Saud claims that he told the Trump Organization he no longer needed the apartment back in 2015, but that the company put in place an “inflated rental amount in order to prop up sagging values in the building.”
The last publicly reported rent for the unit was a whopping $75,000 a month, but the Trump Organization’s suit claims that rent had risen to $115,762.50 as of last July.
Al-Saud’s lawyer asked the court to schedule a hearing on the matter for late April. [Bloomberg] — Will Parker