Luxury New York City hotel sues teen for alleged smear campaign after declining to serve him alcohol

A luxury New York City hotel is suing a Manhattan teenager, alleging 19-year-old Theodore Weintraub began defaming the establishment and claiming it was run by Holocaust deniers after staff refused to serve the underage customer alcohol.

The issues began in August of 2021, when Mr Weintraub, the son of a prominent New York cardiologist, allegedly repeatedly attempted to buy alcohol at The Mark, a luxury property with customers like hip-hop star Drake and actor Angelina Jolie.

“With every passing failed attempt, Weintraub became increasingly aggressive with those refusing to serve him,” the July lawsuit reads, according to Patch, which first reported the conflict.

The teen proceeded to lob increasingly hostile protests at the hotel, according to the lawsuit, encouraging picketing outside with inflammatory signs like “The Mark Denies the Holocaust,” “The Mark Spreads Disease,” and “The Mark Supports Epstein,” a reference to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of running a child sex ring.

The teen, along with unnamed associates, berated staff members and guests, according to the suit.

“It was like non-stop,” a hotel worker told Patch, “going up to every single table back and forth for hours.”

A group of protesters, allegedly recruited by Mr Weintraub, got into a physical altercation with fans of Drake when the rapper was staying at the hotel last month.

The behaviour risked damaging the hotel’s reputation, the lawsuit said.

“The notion that we deny the Holocaust is a spurious attempt to damage our reputation and relationships,” Etienne Haro, the hotel’s general manager, wrote in an affidavit, saying The Mark’s brand “can be damaged, as here, by a single person loudly complaining about our business integrity.”

The teen, now 19, told The New York Post after the lawsuit was filed “I can’t comment now” but “the truth will come out.”

In the meantime, the hotel said, it has filed for and won a restraining order, The New York Times reports.