Donald Trump’s Defunct Trump University The Subject Of Fraud Allegations And Lawsuits


GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has taken bold stances on a number of key issues during his campaign, but the price of higher education and student loan debt are not among the most prominent planks in his platform. Then again, the Republican hopeful is probably keen to dodge questions about his own forays into college administration, seeing as how his college venture, Trump University, went defunct.

CNN reports that Trump University is still the subject of allegations of fraud, as well as civil lawsuits, five years after its demise. The endeavor enrolled somewhere around 10,000 students during its relatively short period of operation, from 2005 to 2010. An investigation by CNN recently revealed that at least three civil suits have been filed by former attendees, including two class action suits in California and one filed by the attorney general of Donald Trump’s home state of New York.

“We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme,” said new York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university.”

It’s worth noting that Schneiderman filed suit over Trump University back in 2013, well before Donald Trump launched his high profile bid for president.

In a separate report via CNNMoney, it is noted that Donald Trump himself is expected to be questioned under oath in October as part of one of the aforementioned pending class action suits. Former student Art Cohen — who spent over $36,000 during his enrollment in Trump University — alleges that the program “failed to deliver on its promises to deliver a premier education.”

Even King Midas had a few stinkers up his sleeve, right? [Image via Billionaire Gambler/The Trump Organization]
Hey, even King Midas had a few stinkers up his sleeve, right?
In August, Mediaite presented an in-depth look at the allegations against Donald Trump and his associates in this matter. While the purported concept behind Trump University was to provide “students” with Trump’s own personal methods for making a fortune in the real estate business, enrollees told the Federal Trade Commission that they were hoodwinked and scammed all the way to the bank. Complaints ranged from one individual claiming she did not receive a free iPad (a door prize at a Trump University event) to another aspiring real estate mogul who paid over $35,000 and only received a collection of books. Another complaint alleges that she paid $20,000 for a program-affiliated “coach” and was instead directed to a series of “sub contractors and scammers.”

Donald Trump himself was actively involved in the marketing and promoting behind the Trump University project, so he is still closely associated with the fallout and controversy surrounding the failed endeavor, both in the eyes of frustrated former customers and investigators.

“We’re going to have professors and adjunct professors that are absolutely terrific,” said Donald Trump in an early promotional video for Trump University. “Terrific people, terrific brains, successful. We’re going to have the best of the best. And honestly, if you don’t learn from them, if you don’t learn from me, if you don’t learn from the people that we’re going to be putting forward — and these are all people that are hand-picked by me… Then you’re just not going to make it in terms of the world of success.”

Although Donald Trump virtually oozed with self-confidence when Trump University was first launched, he hasn’t offered much in the way of an explanation as to why a project that, by his own assessments at the time was too successful to fail, ultimately went belly up and ended up mired in litigation. Of course, it may behoove the tycoon-turned-politician to stay mum a bit longer, as the various and sundry legal wranglings related to Trump University persist. Indeed, the conspicuously coiffed candidate has already paid out court-ordered restitution to about 800 former students, according to a report by Independent Journal and if a host of other disgruntled clients are able to persuade judges on both coasts of America to rule in their favors, Donald Trump will be reaching for his checkbook once again.

[Top photo via Sen Rayford / Getty Images; “Trump Steaks” image via Billionaire Gambler / The Trump Organization]

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