Trump investor tells of deal that ‘turned topsy-turvey’

May 21, 2013 – The attorney for a Chicago company owned by The Trump Organization will make his closing arguments on Tuesday – expects the judge in the civil trial – along with the attorney for a woman who claims the Trump company cheated her out of $516,000.

Jacqueline Goldberg, an 87-year-old CPA, certified financial planner, and real estate investor who in 2006 purchased two condominium units at Trump International Hotel & Tower in River North, continued her testimony at Dirksen Courthouse on Monday. She says she was persuaded to buy when told that as a unit owner she would also own part of the hotel facilities at Trump, which at the time were considered a common element of the condominium. The revenue from this, estimated by Trump at $5 million per year, could lower assessments, she believed. She recalled reading a 2006 property report that said ballrooms, meeting rooms, and other hotel amenities would be part of the condominium.

The facilities were later taken back by Trump and if she had known they were going to do that, “I would not have gone through with the sale.”

Goldberg also described a computerized rotation system, at one time in use at the hotel that assigned hotel/condo units to hotel guests. The system was important to Goldberg, as she had calculated that her unit would only have to be used by hotel guests ten nights per month for it to break even. Later, however, the hotel manager was allowed to decide what rooms were used, a system Goldberg believed was unfair.

She told the court that in 2008, after paying a $516,000 non-refundable deposit but before closing on the units, she heard from her real estate broker, Terry Vogue, about a lawsuit against Trump over hotel facilities being removed as common elements. Then she found out the room rotation system had changed.

“I thought I was in Never Never Land,” said Goldberg. “We had an agreement. All of a sudden it’s been turned topsy-turvy.”

Though she did not want to go through with the deal, she had already invested a lot of money. “I knew I did not want to be in business with this company. I was afraid I was going to be stuck with it or else I’d have to go to court.”

She asked for changes to the purchase agreement but Trump declined. Eventually, she signed the purchase agreement.

Lead defense attorney Stephen Novack (left) said it was true at the time, that unit owners at Trump would own part of the hotel. But there was a clause in their purchase agreements allowing the company to change its mind and take back hotel facilities. Goldberg knew about the clause, he says. “She went in eyes wide open [knowing] they could be taken out.”

Testimony will resume on Tuesday from Goldberg’s real estate broker, Terry Vogue.