Shareholder Blackwells Capital Forces Ashford Hospitality Trust's Chairman Monty J. Bennett And Director Kamal Jafarnia To Resign

Remaining Directors Narrowly Elected by Pitifully Low Percentages

 

Stockholders Deliver Clear Mandate for Change

NEW YORK, May 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blackwells Capital, an owner of 1,000 shares of Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. ("Ashford" or the "Company") (NYSE:AHT), announced today that directors Monty J. Bennett and Kamal Jafarnia failed to receive the requisite number of votes required for re-election to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") at the Company's 2024 annual meeting of stockholders (the "2024 Annual Meeting") and were forced to tender their resignations. The Company's remaining nominees were narrowly re-elected by disturbingly low numbers.

Blackwells achieved this result despite the Company's refusal to produce a stockholder list, and with just one mailing to stockholders. In an attempt to ward off Blackwells' campaign, the Company spun up a familiar playbook employed by Chairman Monty Bennett, which included an aggressive and misleading PR campaign, and the manipulation of Ashford's corporate machinery to entrench the Board, going as far as changing the meeting quorum requirement in an effort to ensure re-election of the failing incumbent Board members.