{"slug":"trump-university-fraud","title":"Trump University: Defrauding Thousands of Students Through a Fraudulent 'Education' Scheme","date":"2005-09-01","lastUpdated":"2016-11-18","description":"Trump University operated from 2005 to 2010, marketing itself as an elite real estate education program endorsed by Donald Trump personally. State attorneys general and thousands of former students alleged it was a predatory fraud that extracted $35–$50 million from vulnerable people through high-pressure sales tactics and worthless courses.","summary":"Trump University promised to teach students Trump's real estate 'secrets' through courses taught by his handpicked instructors. In practice, it was found to be a high-pressure sales operation that extracted money from vulnerable people — including elderly retirees — through a series of escalating upsells. New York's attorney general sued for $40 million; a California class action settled for $25 million in 2016.","category":"corruption","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2013/ag-schneiderman-files-suit-against-trump-university","title":"AG Schneiderman Files Suit Against Trump University","publisher":"New York Attorney General"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/us/politics/trump-university-settlement.html","title":"Trump Agrees to Pay $25 Million in Trump University Settlement","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trump-university-chaos-lawsuits-and-allegations-of-fraud/2016/02/25/c08e9cce-d75f-11e5-925f-1d10062cc82d_story.html","title":"Inside Trump University: Chaos, lawsuits and allegations of fraud","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/TrumpU.pdf","title":"Low, Cohen v. Trump University — Settlement Agreement","publisher":"U.S. District Court, Southern District of California"},{"url":"https://abcnews.go.com/Business/trump-university-students-say-felt-ripped-off/story?id=16567009","title":"Trump University Students Say They Felt Ripped Off","publisher":"ABC News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["fraud","Trump-University","corruption","pre-presidency","consumer-fraud"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2005-09-01","title":"Trump University launches","summary":"Trump University opens, marketing itself as an elite real estate program personally backed by Donald Trump. It promises to teach students the same techniques that made Trump successful in real estate."},{"date":"2010-01-01","title":"Trump University closes","summary":"After years of complaints, Trump University closes its doors. It has collected an estimated $35-50 million from students."},{"date":"2013-08-24","title":"New York AG sues for $40 million","summary":"New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files a $40 million lawsuit alleging Trump University operated as an unlicensed school and defrauded thousands of students. Trump counterattacks, calling Schneiderman a 'lightweight' and 'crooked.'"},{"date":"2016-02-01","title":"Internal playbooks released","summary":"A federal court orders release of Trump University internal 'playbooks' showing detailed scripts for identifying and manipulating vulnerable students, instructing salespeople to 'find the pain' and exploit personal crises."},{"date":"2016-11-18","title":"Trump settles for $25 million without admitting wrongdoing","summary":"Shortly after winning the presidential election, Trump settles the California class action and New York AG lawsuit for $25 million — reversing years of promises to never settle. The settlement provides refunds to approximately 6,000 former students."}],"location":{"name":"New York, NY","lat":40.7128,"lng":-74.006},"custom":{"era":"pre-presidency","posture":"judicial-finding","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Over 6,000 students defrauded of approximately $35-50 million in aggregate","perpetrators":"Donald Trump (founder and namesake; approved marketing materials and instructor selection); Trump University LLC management","structuredVictims":[{"group":"Trump University students","status":"Defrauded of tuition; $25 million class action settlement 2016","count":6000}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Founder and principal; personally appeared in marketing materials","institution":"Trump University LLC"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2016-11-18","summary":"Updated with $25 million settlement."}]}}