NEW YORK: US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday agreed to a $25 million deal to settle lawsuits accusing his now-defunct Trump University of fraud, sparing him the embarrassment of further legal wrangling as he prepares to enter the White House.
A trio of suits brought by former students alleged that the training program — which was not an accredited college or university, but was in operation from 2005 to 2011 — fleeced students by tricking them with aggressive marketing.
Students paid as much as $35,000 to enroll, wrongly believing they would make it big in real estate after being taught by the Manhattan billionaire property mogul’s hand-picked experts, said the suits brought in New York and California.
Trump’s lawyers had countered for years that many students had given the program a thumbs-up and those who failed to succeed had only themselves to blame.
But, with the president-elect apparently seeking to put the thorny matter to rest as he builds his cabinet, a deal was reached.
“Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university,” New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman said.
“I am pleased that under the terms of this settlement, every victim will receive restitution and that Donald Trump will pay up to $1 million in penalties to the State of New York for violating state education laws.”
A spokesperson for Schneiderman’s office said the settlement covers all three class-action lawsuits against Trump University: two in California and one in New York.
Robert Guillo, a 76-year-old New Yorker who spent nearly $40,000 on tuition alongside his son, told AFP a few months ago that the program was an “absolute scam.”
“I learned absolutely nothing,” Guillo told AFP by telephone. “He fooled me for $35,000.”
