'It really damaged my brand': Melania Trump seeks $50million in damages after beauty firm 'failed to promote' her skincare line

By Sadie Whitelocks

PUBLISHED: 14:43 EST, 28 November 2013 | UPDATED: 15:17 EST, 28 November 2013

Melania Trump is seeking $50million in damages against a beauty company for failing to promote her eponymous skincare line.

The Slovenian-born former model, 43, signed a five-year contract last November with New Sunshine - a beauty firm that, at the time, was controlled by billionaire businessmen John Menard and Stephen Hilbert.

However, she claims that despite living up to her side of the deal by marketing the brand at media interviews and red-carpet events, New Sunshine did nothing to push it into the public arena.

Donald Trump, Melania Trump

On the case: Melania Trump is seeking $50million in damages against a beauty company for failing to promote her eponymous skincare line

On top of that, she says the company failed to pay her the $750,000 she was owed in negotiated payments.

Mrs Trump, the wife of real estate magnate, Donald, told the New York Post: 'They didn’t honor the contract. They didn’t promote my line. They didn’t pay me. They really damaged the brand.'

A federal judge ruled in her favor on Wednesday.

 

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She can now proceed with an arbitration hearing in New York, followed by a trial in Indianapolis.

The dispute stemmed from Mr Menard's attempt to cancel the deal made with Mrs Trump after his partnership with Mr Hilbert disintegrated.

He claimed that he lost most of the nearly $500million he invested in a private equity investment firm that Mr Hilbert had managed.

Poorly marketed: Mrs Tump said she had been getting her beauty products for an April launch but when the date came, they were nowhere to be seen in stores

Poorly marketed: Mrs Tump said she had been getting her beauty products for an April launch but when the date came, they were nowhere to be seen in stores

As a result he brought legal action against Mr Hilbert and several of his business partners including Mrs Trump.

He claimed that Mr Hilbert had signed the deal with her because it was of personal interest and a poor business decision.

Giving her side of the story Mrs Trump said New Sunshine reached out to her to form a partnership after she launched a successful jewelry line through the shopping network, QVC.

She said Mr Hilbert, whom she referred to as a business friend, phoned her in the spring of 2011 and told her New Sunshine was interested in creating a partnership for a skincare line.

Mrs Trump says she had been experimenting with such a product line and immediately agreed to a meeting at her New York home with Mr Hilbert and others involved in New Sunshine management.

However, Mr Menard believes Mr Hilbert had no right to negotiate the contract.

Lawsuit: Tomisue Hilbert, pictured with her husband Stephen in 2003, is suing his former business partner, billionaire John Menard, Jr., after he allegedly demanded sex from her

Lawsuit: Stephen Hilbert, pictured with his wife Tomisue in 2003, was the one who signed the agreement with Mrs Trump - but she said she never got anything that was originally set out in the deal

Accused: John Menard, left, believes he is being sued because he accused Mr Hilbert of mismanaging his funds

Angey: Billionaire businessman John Menard, left, says Mr Hilbert did not have the authority to make the deal

In June 2012 he acted to remove Mr Hilbert from power in all of their business partnerships and a Wisconsin court enforced that ruling in March.

Mrs Trump says she never questioned that Mr Hilbert had the authority to negotiate and close a contract.

She said she first realized something was amiss in March of this year when an email notified her of 'unspecified changes' in the structure of New Sunshine.

Then, later that month, she received a letter from Merchant Capital LLC, a company acting on behalf of Mr Menard, to inform her that the leadership team from New Sunshine - including Mr Hilbert - had been removed.

Merchant Capital told Mrs Trump that the deal to market the skincare products was null and unenforceable. It later offered to renegotiate the contract. But by then, Mrs Tump says her brand was too damaged in the public eye to be successful.

She claims she had been marketing the product for an April launch but when the date came, it was nowhere to be seen in stores. Angry fans reportedly contacted her through social media upset they could not find the products for sale.

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What brand???

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Surely Melania sounds too much like melanoma to be a successful skincare brand?

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Ivana looks like a clown due to extensive plastic surgery, especially when she wears her outlandsih costumes.

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Every tacky celebrity is either a designer, or a chemist these days! Honestly, I cannot believe the crap they create sells at all! Designers, chemists or dermatologists used to be respectable professionals in the past!

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ohh pls you are only know because of the BILLIONAIRE you married get over it

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Trump wishes he was a billionaire.

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Christy Brinkley is older by 20 years and looks better. Ill have what christybis selling

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Like she really needs money???

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John Menard filed suit on Melania Trump first(!), so she's turned around and filed suit on both him and Stephen Hilbert for $50M because she wasn't paid $750,000 and now she says her business venture is a complete failure. If the product was any good, it would still make it on its own, but there's where I have my doubts -- olive oil is probably better! Way to tie up the courts in a ridiculous amount of nonsense that nobody cares about, Trump family! They should quit while they are ahead, if this is how they think they are going to increase their bank account.

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Unless you're a dermatologist you shouldn't be pushing a skin-care range.

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Hugs kisses holy blesses wishes Andre smith fan of the Trumps

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