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Trump University’s Cut-Throat Sales Tactics Revealed In Unsealed Court Documents

By Val Powell
Published on: 23:13 PST, May 31, 2016

An increasing number of former employees of Trump University are coming out to expose what they claim was a get-rich-quick scam by the presumptive GOP nominee.

Ronald Schnackenberg, the ex-sales manager of the venture, gave testimony describing the whole system as “fraudulent,” taking advantage of the people’s gullibility to rake in profits for Donald Trump.

In fact, he claimed that he got a scolding at one point because he didn’t convince a couple to sign up for the $35,000 course. At that time, he believed that they would be buried in debt had they joined Trump University.

Nevertheless, another colleague stepped in and convinced the couple anyway.

He said the system was built to prey upon “the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”

Another sales executive at Trump University, Jason Nicholas, claimed that they were told to tell their students that Donald Trump will actively share with them his secrets in real estate. That pitch was a lie, he said, since Trump “was hardly involved at all.”

Corrine Sommer, a former events manager for Trump University, seemed to back up the claims of the plaintiffs, who insisted that the instructors at Trump University did not offer real advice on real estate. Sommer said that those who taught the courses had no qualifications to do so.

The Washington Post petitioned a judge to release records surrounding the lawsuit against Trump University, arguing that doing so would be in the public’s best interest. Lawyers for the presidential candidate countered the petition, claiming that the records would reveal “trade secrets.”

Meanwhile, the presumptive presidential nominee went on the offensive against Judge Gonzalo Curiel for releasing the documents surrounding the case filed against Trump University. Donald Trump called Judge Curiel (who is Hispanic) a “Mexican” and called Curiel’s court “a rigged the system.”

The former The Apprentice host has repeatedly been threatening to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants, specifically Mexicans, from entering the US and stealing jobs from hardworking Americans.

He said, “I think Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself. I think it’s a disgrace that he is doing this.”

Donald Trump also claimed during the San Diego rally that he had multiple opportunities to settle the case against Trump University before he proclaimed his intention to run for president, but chose not to.

“I could have settled the case, I just chose not to… because you know what? Because I’m a man of principle,” he added.

He also added that the case against Trump University was flimsy from the very beginning because the original plaintiff was saying “good things” about its courses when she was deposed by prosecutors. Instead of dropping the case right there and then, the billionaire claimed that they dropped her as a witness instead.

Indeed, the records that were released in connection with the lawsuit against Trump University were quite revealing in the language and terminologies they use, reported NPR.

The guidebook also prohibited students from speaking to the press about Trump University, even if they raved about the courses, and it said to refer any questions to professors or administrative officials.

The sales pitch also didn’t exclude poor families and individuals from taking the courses at Trump University. One statement in the guideline for the salesforce reads, “Money is never a reason for not enrolling in Trump University. If they really believe in you and your product, they will find the money.”

The $40 million lawsuit against Trump University was filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in 2013, who alleged that Donald Trump pocketed $5 million from the venture.

[Photo by Tom Lynn/Getty Images]

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