Thread: Trump University lawsuit nears $25 million payout

Trump University lawsuit nears $25m payout

• 1 hour ago
• From the section US & Canada

Image copyrightAPImage
captionDonald Trump listens as Michael Sexton speaks at the launch of the Trump University investment school in 2005Trump elected



Donald Trump is nearing settlements in several fraud lawsuits relating to Trump University, the BBC has learned.

The US president-elect is being sued by former students who paid $35,000 (£28,000) for real estate "secrets" from his "hand-picked" instructors.

Mr Trump was criticised as a candidate for saying that the California judge hearing the case could not be impartial because he is of Mexican heritage.

The businessman faces three fraud lawsuits in California and New York.

A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the attorney general "has always been open to a settlement that fairly compensates the many victims of Trump University who have been waiting years for a resolution".

Image copyrightREUTERSImage
captionTrump University seminar DVDs on display at the Republican Convention in Cleveland

Mr Schneiderman had sought a $40m (£32m) payout from Mr Trump over the university, which closed in 2010.

He called Trump University a "fraud from beginning to end" this past July, adding that the organisation used "false promises to prey on desperate people".

A source familiar with the discussions told the BBC on Friday the settlement, which would finalise all three cases, could cost Mr Trump as much as $25m (£20m).

US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the two California cases, has urged both sides to settle out of court.

Mr Trump repeatedly claimed during his campaign that he would not settle the class-action lawsuits.

"I will win the Trump University case. I already am, as far as I'm concerned," Mr Trump said in June.

"I could settle that case. I could have settled that case. I just choose not to."

Mr Trump would not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, the source said, adding that it is a "180 degree reversal" for the president-elect.

His lawyers had requested a delay in the case, but were refused.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38021820

Oh these stupid hideous DemoQuacks. They're sickening. Go sue some illegal aliens or illegal employers who hire them or some drug dealers running foreign dope in here and sucking out our money supply in violation of US law, God knows both your states of New York and California have plenty of all of it. Our President-elect is too busy organizing his government, bringing our jobs home and improving our relationships with hostile countries.

More info @

Trump University lawsuit closer to trial

Unfortunately settling out of court is not proof of innocence or guilt.

Donald Trump to Pay New York $1 Million in Trump University Settlement

By Will Bredderman • 11/18/16 5:03pm

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump will have to pay New York State $1 million in penalties as part of a $25 settlement resolving outstanding suits against his real estate seminar program, Trump University.

The settlement follows years of controversy and legal recriminations between Trump and prosecutors over the venture, where many enrollees complained that they forked over tens of thousands of dollars and failed to receive the benefits the “University” advertised. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who joined his California counterpart Kamala Harris—now a senator-elect—in suing the mogul for allegedly defrauding customers, hit the incoming commander-in-chief over his “stunning reversal” in the case.

“My office sued Donald Trump for swindling thousands of innocent Americans out of millions of dollars through a scheme known at Trump University,” Schneiderman said in a press release, alluding to the personal lawsuit the Queens-born businessman lodged against him. “Donald Trump fought us every step of the way, filing baseless charges and fruitless appeals and refusing to settle for even modest amounts of compensation for the victims of his phony university. Today, that all changes.”

In 2013, Schneiderman filed a $40 million fraud case against Trump, and accused the mogul of violating state education laws by presenting his unlicensed seminar series as a genuine university.

The $1 million the president-elect will pay directly to his native state will resolve those claims.

The prosecutor, a Democrat who backed Hillary Clinton for president, has an ongoing investigation into the Trump Foundation—which appears to have raised money in New York State without proper authorization, and spent it in potentially inappropriate ways, including to settle lawsuits.

Today’s move by the Trump Organization appears to follow a longstanding pattern of responding to legal action by both government and private citizens with counter-suits, before eventually settling. He and his father reacted similarly to federal racial discrimination cases against their company and its properties in the 1960s and 1970s.

This approach, as Trump noted on the campaign trail, allowed his company to avoid admission of wrongdoing.

The president-elect’s team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When asked about the scuttled “school” on the campaign trail, Trump often alluded to positive reviews it received from customers, including some who later asserted they had been defrauded.

http://observer.com/2016/11/donald-t...ity-settlemen/