Ex-‘Students’: Trump ‘University’ Was A Scam
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Trump founded his online “university” in 2005, but had to change its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in 2010 when the New York State attorney general declared the word “university” misleading.
By 2011 the New York State Attorney General was investigating Trump U and in 2013 that officefiled a $40 million lawsuit claiming that over 5,000 people didn’t get the Trump-branded education in real estate sales that they had paid for. People attended Trump U seminars with the hope of learning how to flip houses. Instead, some say that they were simply pressured into buying education packages for tens of thousands of dollars.
After the New York AG’s office filed its civil suit, Trump promptly filed an ethics complaint—and says Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was just shaking his family down for campaign contributions. Trump and his executives claim that Trump University was completely legit. “At no time did we ever represent that it was a certified institution,” Alan Garten, executive vice president of the Trump Organization told the National Review last month. “It’s not like we were operating in the dark. We were open and notorious. We advertised it quite extensively. People knew exactly what we were doing, including the [state] department of education, and they were fine with it.”
I filed a freedom of information request with the Federal Trade Commission to see what kind of formal complaints have been filed with Trump University over the years. The complaints range from the relatively minor (one woman says she never received a free iPad she’d won at a seminar) to the major (other people claim they gave Trump U over $35,000 with little or nothing to show for it).
Some of the comments:
- In November 2008, both through the mail and via the Internet, I was invited to attend a 3-day seminar under the auspices of Trump University, the price of which was $1,495.00. At its conclusion on November 9, much to chagrin of everyone there, we learned that “in order to succeed” we would need to enroll in ”individual coaching” which was billed between $15,000 and $25,000. In fact, attendees were encouraged on 11/8 to call their credit card companies and request an increased credit line to pay for “a substantial purchase.”
- I paid 1,495.00 to attend a three day seminar, where I would be taught how to invest in real estate. I made a point of telling them from the beginning that I would need someone to walk me through a deal, since, I have multiple sclerosis and had a stroke. I was assured that this would happen. At the second seminar, I learned a bit more, then was asked about my credit cards and savings. At this point, I really believed I could do it. I then, foolishly, “invested” in more classes.
- I paid for the Trump University “Gold Elite” package. The program completely failed to live up to its promises, and therefore I requested a refund, but have received no refund to date. At the end of their 3-day training (for which we paid an additional sum) we signed up and paid for the “Gold Elite” package for an additional $34,995 based on the promises it would successfully launch our real estate investment business through the specific promised deliverables primarily of the mentorship.
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