Behind the billion-dollar facade, an ugly fight brewing at Miami Beach's renowned Fontainebleau pitted owners of the tony property against a dying woman at the center of a federal investigation into financial fraud.

In the latest twist in the yearslong litigation, a ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Bronwyn Miller granted the woman's estate a motion for attorney fees, putting the Fontainebleau on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For years, beginning in 2012, Fontainebleau Florida Tower 2 LLC battled Elena Garcia, a cancer patient who attended several court hearings via phone or Skype as she received medical care in Spain. The parties traded lawsuits in an ongoing case with more than 500 docket entries and upcoming hearings slated for 2018—years after the defendant's death.

Garcia represented herself for about three years, but her estate hired counsel after her death. Miller's ruling would cover the estate's legal fees, and possibly Garcia's $40,000 expenditure for court courts.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach famously underwent a two-year renovation of the condo-hotel property that grabbed international headlines. But its fight with Garcia ironically stems from upgrades to her 35th-floor penthouse. The company argued Garcia needed permission to make extensive renovations—like installing marble floors—and to place a statue on the balcony. It filed suit seeking injunctive relief and alleging violation of the condominium's governing documents.

Garcia rebutted with allegations that the lawsuit was a vindictive response to her withdrawal from the hotel program, which authorizes Fontainebleau to add privately owned units to its hotel room inventory and keep a share of the revenue. She alleged the company fabricated claims against her to generate attorney fees and create a lien that would force her into foreclosure. At trial, she also presented a slew of emails in which Adam Klein, Fontainebleau's director of condo-hotel operations, reportedly admitted to illegally entering the penthouse.

“Last time I went, I had five people and an inspector and we barged in and stayed a while,” according to the email from Klein filed in court documents. “She was not pleased to say the least.”

Garcia died in June 2015, but her death did not slow the dispute. She had been a pro se defendant, staving off claims she made lavish unauthorized kitchen and bathroom renovations. She answered the suit with numerous counterclaims against Fontainebleau for alleged selective enforcement of its rules. Her estate later stepped into the litigation and hired Coral Gables attorney Sebastian Ohanian.

“They just kept breaking into her apartment. She put up a camera to catch them breaking in, and they removed the camera,” Ohanian said. “It's so outrageous that's unbelievable. And the fact that this case is six years old now makes it even more outrageous.”

Klein filed an affidavit disputing illegal entry, and instead claimed the unit owner denied access to inspect damage from the renovations. Even though the property was purchased in Garcia's name, Klein claimed the woman had never been to the condo. A government lawsuit would later link the property to criminal activity.

Attorneys for the U.S. government stepped in the fray months before Garcia's death, starting civil litigation that would stack the odds against the unit owner.

On Feb. 3, 2015, the federal government filed a civil complaint to seize the property, claiming Garcia purchased the plush real estate with money traceable to bank fraud. The government obtained forfeiture before Fontainebleau Florida Tower's case went to trial and sold the unit at a public auction. Fontainebleau attorney Geoffrey M. Cahen said the company worked the government to ensure the winning bidder restored the unit “to a condition that complies with the condominium declaration and the building code.”

Meanwhile, the Fontainebleau is fighting the attorney fee award. Oral argument on its motion for reconsideration is set for Nov. 1.