Plaintiffs Allege That Trump University (Not a Real College) Was One Big Money Scam
PoliticsIn 2004, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched a traveling seminar and workshop series called Trump University that claimed to educate students in the secrets of real estate and guide them into becoming Trump-like moguls. The “school” mostly ceased operations in 2011, but continues to be, as the Washington Post’s Emma Brown puts it, “a thorn in Trump’s side” thanks to the handful of Trump U alumni who have accused the school of fraud.
Brown reports:
In three pending lawsuits, including one in which the New York attorney general is seeking $40 million in restitution, former students allege that the enterprise bilked them out of their money with misleading advertisements.
Instead of a fast route to easy money, these Trump University students say they found generic seminars led by salesmen who pressured them to invest more cash in additional courses. The students say they didn’t learn Trump’s secrets and never received the one-on-one guidance they expected.
Trump University was structured thusly: Those curious about the workshops would attend a free seminar during which they were urged to fork over $1,495 for a three-day workshop. During the workshop, students were allegedly advised to, according to Brown, “call their credit card companies and request increased borrowing limits, ostensibly so they’d have more capital to invest in real estate.”