(Last Updated on: September 9, 2017 )
Three lawsuits have been filed against Donald Trump and his real estate school, Trump University, alleging fraud. In 2010, some students sued Trump in a class action lawsuit, saying that they had paid as much as $35,000 for misleading promises. They enrolled in the school to learn the real estate mogul’s secrets to success, but were instead prompted to pay for more expensive courses, which were promised to include “handpicked” personal mentoring by experts. They said the seminars felt more like infomercials, and students who signed up and paid for advanced level courses were falsely promised to start earning tens of thousands of dollars per month; Students argue they went into debt for a worthless education. Trump has responded to these claims by saying that he can’t personally be held liable, because he doesn’t run the university. He does maintain that he handpicked the instructors, and that the education is worthwhile, and the students failed to reap benefits due to their own ineptitude. Another class action lawsuit filed by the New York state attorney general in 2013, is asking for $40 million in reparations from Trump for misleading promises and fraudulent business practices. The lawsuit says that many times, students paid to come to seminars expecting to meet Trump, but instead met a life-size card board cut out. It also said that students were encouraged to call their credit card companies to increase their limits during breaks so they could, “have access to funds to do real estate deals.” However, they really meant to encourage students to use their increased credit limits to pay for expensive “Elite” programs. “I liken it to if I was a 6-foot-6 senior in college and Michael Jordan told me, ‘If you come to my university, I can get you in the NBA.’” Stated a former Trump University student of the misleading promises the school made. After several warnings from New York’s Education Department, the school was forced to rename itself as Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, because it was not officially licensed to be a university. The Trump University scandal has been brought up in recent Republican presidential debates, and it is speculated that Trump will have to go on trial during the last leg of his presidential candidacy if matters are not settled out of court.
If you are victim to misleading rhetoric, and fraudulent business practices, the law firm of Hodes Milman can provide you with the assistance you need. Contact us today online at verdictvictory.com or call (949) 640-8222 for a complimentary case evaluation.