Miami.- U.S. citizens filed a lawsuit this weekend to block the UFC fights that President Donald Trump has scheduled at the White House to celebrate his birthday on June 14, considering them a “corrupt scheme.”
The lawsuit, filed in Washington D.C. by a Vietnam War veteran and an activist, argues that the event violates federal law by using public resources for a sports promoter to make a profit, as reported this Sunday by the Public Integrity Project, the association representing the plaintiffs.
The complaint also maintains that Trump and UFC director Dana White will obtain financial gains from the fights, by denouncing that the president bought $50,000 in shares of the company that manages the league and that the company is selling VIP packages for $1.5 million to attend the match.
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Furthermore, the lawsuit argues that the metal structure installed at the White House for the UFC fights violates National Park Service (NPS) regulations, which required Congressional approval for being in a federal park and will cost at least $700,000 for repairs to the garden.
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The plaintiffs, from the state of Virginia, are retired Sergeant Paul Romano, a Vietnam veteran from the city of Springfield, and activist Susan Douglas, from the city of Alexandria, who claim they seek to “preserve the monumental spaces of Washington”.
“This is a deeply corrupt scheme to enrich the president and his friends. If this fight is allowed to proceed, it will only be the beginning, and our national monuments will become branding opportunities for the wealthy,” stated Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, in a statement.
The president announced -since last October- that he would hold a mixed martial arts event as part of his birthday and at the start of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Prior to entering politics, Trump promoted boxing matches in New York in the eighties and nineties. Furthermore, the president had a long relationship with the WWE, the main professional wrestling company in the United States, in which he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013.
