Rabbi Says Miami Hotel Sided With The Man Threatening Him, Demands $100 Million—Now It Gets To Read His Private AI Chats

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach was sitting in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach lobby when another guest confronted him, called him a baby killer, and threatened him. He recorded the encounter, accused hotel security of siding with his attacker, and launched a public campaign against the property. Nearly two years later, the hotel has won a default judgment against him after he repeatedly violated court orders. And a judge is granting access to his private AI conversations to help determine damages—including whether he deliberately set out to hurt the business. How It All Started In The Lobby Around midnight on December 1–2, 2024, Rabbi Boteach says he was working on his laptop, drafting an acceptance speech for a friend nominated to President Trump’s cabinet, when hotel guest Faiz Akbar approached him. Coverage at the time describes the man calling the rabbi a “baby killer” and demanding that he leave the lobby. Among the threats: “You’re lucky we’re in America or I will f**k your sh*t, motherf**er.” That’s antisemitic abuse. Here’s his original post about the encounter: Rabbi Shmuley’s December 2, 2024 post Boteach said security stood by, failed to call police when he asked, and then fist-bumped and hugged the man threatening him. The hotel says security intervened within approximately two minutes, separated the men, and prevented an escalation. It claims security didn’t hug the threatening man – that the guest initiated an embrace during the guard’s effort to calm him, but the guard didn’t reciprocate. And the hotel says it barred Akbar from the property. It also said that Boteach asked in response whether Akbar was going to blow himself up. The Rabbi Had Already Beefed With The Fontainebleau Boteach grew up nearby, visited the hotel and spoke at events there. His own lawsuit lays out an earlier confrontation with the property on January 3, 2023. He says three people approached while he worked on his laptop, shouted “Free Palestine,” and made threatening gestures. When he sought help, he says security accused him of harassing the guests. The hotel later apologized, promised security training, and asked him not to identify the property publicly for it. There was some discussion of compensation from the hotel, but disagreement about exactly what: The hotel says he demanded lifetime pool and gym access, ultimately accepted a free dinner, and moved on. Boteach said management offered free vacations, which he declined, then offered pool passes for visits with his grandchildren, which he accepted. His lawsuit says he held lifetime passes when the hotel later excluded him. So when the December 2024 confrontation occurred, Boteach regarded it as another failure after promises to fix security. The hotel saw him making another attempt to extract compensation through public attention. Boteach announced plans for a $100 million lawsuit and urged people to avoid the property. The hotel says he offered to de-escalate for a $1 million donation to his organization. Boteach responded that he’d agreed to drop the donation demand as part of an attempted resolution involving an apology, brokered through Miriam Adelson. The Fontainebleau filed suit alleging he: Falsely claimed he’d been banned for being “too Jewish.” Misrepresented its cooperation with police. Created AI videos depicting people associated with the property making fabricated admissions or celebrating antisemitism. Urged guests to cancel reservations and compared hotel representatives to Nazi collaborators. The hotel said it had barred Boteach because he was threatening litigation, and accused him of deleting that explanation from correspondence he shared to suggest religious discrimination. Boteach argued that excluding him for pursuing civil-rights claims was itself unlawful retaliation. I covered the lawsuit in September 2025, the hotel’s defamation claim was allowed to proceed. Boteach argued that his statements were opinion. The judge held that attributing a specific discriminatory reason for his exclusion was a factual claim that could be proved false. The Rabbi Repeatedly Violated A Court Order Boteach’s lawyers obtained hotel video in March 2025. He continued to post excerpts even after agreeing to a protective order, leading to a warning that further violations would bring sanctions. The Judge directed the rabbi to cease making social media posts about the hotel and its attorneys during the litigation. He kept posting including raising whether the hotel’s attorney appeared in Epstein files and had involvement in events surrounding Virginia Giuffre’s death. Last month the judge dismissed the rabbi’s claims and awarded a default judgment to the hotel due to his conduct during the lawsuit. The amount of damages remained to be determined. The Hotel Gets Access To The Rabbi’s AI Chats The hotel argued that the rabbi’s AI conversations could reveal what Boteach intended to accomplish with his campaign against them. They want uncapped punitive damages which requires showing he specifically intended to harm the hotel and actually caused harm. The hotel argues he used AI to create attacks, showing his intentions and planning that went into the posts. On Wednesday, the judge allowed some discovery of the rabbi’s chats: relevant, nonprivileged AI communications since December 3, 2024 concerning the hotel, its lawyers, and its employees, owners, or representatives, including deleted communications within those categories. According to the judge, someone’s instructions to an AI system might reveal why a statement was created and what effect they wanted it to have and therefore relevant to damages. Boteach calls this a threat to every hotel guest’s digital privacy. Topics on this page