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| Company type | Privately held Unaccredited |
|---|---|
| Industry | For Profit Education |
| Predecessor | Trump University (name changed to The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in June 2010) |
| Founded | 2004 (incorporated) May 23, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-05-23) (launched) |
| Founder | Donald Trump |
| Headquarters | New York City, United States |
| Website | trumpinitiative (registration required) |
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Trump University LLC (formerly the Trump Wealth Institute; later named Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC) was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until at least 2010. After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct. It was founded by Donald Trump and his associates Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny in 2004. The company offered courses in real estate, asset management, entrepreneurship, and wealth creation, charging fees ranging from $1,500 to $35,000.
The organization was not an accredited university or college and did not confer college credit. In 2011, the company became the subject of an inquiry by the New York Attorney General's office for illegal business practices that resulted in a lawsuit filed in 2013, which remains ongoing; NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has reiterated that he will not drop the case because of Trump's presidential run, calling the evidence of the fraud perpetrated by Trump University "pretty straightforward," and stating that Trump likely faces millions in fines as a result of the litigation.According to publicly revealed testimony of Trump University's former employees and managers, published in the NY Times, the for-profit school exploited its students, engaged in unscrupulous business practices, preyed on the elderly and otherwise vulnerable, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims, and was, at bottom, a "lie" and a "fraudulent scheme." Trump University is also subject to ongoing class action lawsuits filed in three states. The company and subsequent lawsuits against it have received renewed interest due to Trump's candidacy in the 2016 presidential election.
Recently, Trump has come in for significant criticism for claiming that the judge in the case, Gonzalo P. Curiel, is "Mexican", and that, as a result, he is biased against Trump for what have commonly been perceived as Trump's disparaging characterizations of Mexicans at his campaign announcement and elsewhere. In response to Trump's attacks on Judge Curiel, Schneiderman was quoted by CNN as saying of Trump: "This was a fraud from top to bottom. He's using every trick he can to delay the release of documents, to delay the trials, attacking the judge for his ethnicity, attacking me and accusing me of conspiring with the president of the United States."
Formation and subsequent name change
Trump University was incorporated in 2004 by Trump, Sexton, and Spitalny, as a New York limited liability company. Donald Trump owned 93% of the company. On May 23, 2005, Trump University formally launched its education program. The company's original business plan focused on online education but included live, in-person instruction as well.
In 2005, the New York State Department of Education sent Trump, Sexton, and Trump University a letter saying that they were violating state law by using the word "university" when in fact Trump University was not actually chartered as one and by offering live instruction or training without a required license.
A letter sent by the Deputy Commissioner for Higher Education, Joseph Frey, to Trump that was made public in April 2010 stated: "Use of the word 'university' by your corporation is misleading and violates New York Education Law and the Rules of the Board of Regents." In June 2010, "Trump University" changed its name to "The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative."
Allegations of impropriety and lawsuits
On August 24, 2013, the State of New York filed a $40 million civil suit against Trump University (which had largely ceased operations in May 2011) alleging illegal business practices and false claims made by the company. Donald Trump denied the allegations, claiming the school had a 98% approval rating and said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was "a political hack looking to get publicity."
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Is Trump University a fraud?, 5:28, CNN, September 29, 2015 | |
| Trump faces lawsuits from former Trump University students, 5:47, CBS This Morning, September 24, 2015 | |
| Prosecutor: Trump lawsuit no stunt, 3:55, CNN, August 26, 2013 | |
| Trump, Rubio spar over lawsuit against Trump University, 4:53, Fox News Channel, Mar. 03, 2016 |
Schneiderman described Trump University as a bait-and-switch scheme and pointed to the fact that the organization was not a university. Schneiderman accused Trump of misleading more than 5,000 people to pay up to $35,000 to learn his real estate investment techniques.
In an infomercial, Trump claimed to have "handpicked" Trump University's instructors. He testified in a 2012 deposition, however, that he never selected the instructors for the program. Michael Sexton stated in a 2012 deposition that Trump signed off on the school's advertisements.
In October 2014, a New York judge found Trump personally liable for operating the company without the required business license. In February 2016, Trump suggested the lawsuit had benefited from the Hispanic ethnicity of the presiding judge. Shortly thereafter Schneiderman described Trump's remarks as “racial demagoguery.”
A Trump complaint alleging that the state Attorney General's investigation was accompanied by a campaign donation shakedown was investigated by a New York ethics board and dismissed in August 2015. Trump University also filed a $1 million defamation suit against former Trump University student Tarla Makaeff, who had spent about $37,000 on seminars, after she joined the class-action lawsuit and publicized her classroom experiences on social media. Unable to prove malice, Trump University lost an anti-SLAPP lawsuit (under statutes designed to thwart legal intimidation of class-action participants) and was ordered by a federal judge in April 2015 to pay Makaeff and her lawyers $798,774.24 in legal fees and costs. In 2013 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judgment, noting that "victims of con artists often sing the praises of their victimizers until the moment they realize they have been fleeced." Also, Trump University employees pressured students to offer favorable reviews, instructed them to fill out the forms in order to obtain graduation certificates, and did not undertake procedures often used to ensure that surveys were filled out objectively.
In a separate civil lawsuit, Art Cohen v. Donald J. Trump, filed in mid-February 2014 in federal district court in California, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel allowed claimants in California, Florida, and New York to proceed as a class action and rejected Trump's request to dismiss their racketeering claim. As of May 2016, trial was scheduled to begin on November 28, 2016.
Despite Trump's claim to have won much of the lawsuit, all three lawsuits are still pending.
The topic was highlighted during the Republican primaries and at the March 3, 2016 Republican Party presidential nomination debate in Detroit, Michigan.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Curiel in campaign speeches, calling the judge a "hater" and describing him as "Spanish" or "Mexican". Trump has said that Curiel should recuse himself from the case.
In popular culture
Trump University was the subject of a week-long series in the comic strip Doonesbury in June 2005.
Notes
- Curiel was born in the United States to Mexican parents.
References
- ^ "Trump University: No Longer a University?". The Huffington Post. April 19, 2010.
- ^ Hindo, Brian (May 23, 2005). "Trump University: You're Wired! – The Donald Launches His Own Online 'Self-Directed Learning' Courses – And They Differ Mightily from the Usual Fare". BusinessWeek . Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- Gitell, Seth (March 8, 2016). "I Survived Trump University". Politico. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
- ^ Cohan, William D. "Big Hair on Campus: Did Donald Trump Defraud Thousands of Real-Estate Students?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
- ^ (registration required) Barbaro, Michael (May 19, 2011). "New York Attorney General Is Investigating Trump's For-Profit School". The New York Times.
- Levine, Greg (May 23, 2005). "Trump University Founded For Student 'Customers'". Forbes. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/04/news/companies/donald-trump-eric-schneiderman/
- http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ny-attorney-general-back-off-trump-fraud-case/story?id=39515501
- Donald Trump University Lawsuit Is Lesson For All For-Profit Colleges Forbes August 2013
- New York judge finds Donald Trump liable for unlicensed school Reuters August 2014
- ^ Trump faces two-front legal fight over 'university' USA Today
- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/us/politics/donald-trump-university.html?version=meter+at+0&module=meter-Links&pgtype=Multimedia&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/01/us/politics/schnackenberg-testimony.html?version=meter+at+2&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F06%2F02%2Fus%2Fdate-rape-stopped-fig-santa-monica-facebook.html%3Fmodule%3DWatchingPortal%26region%3Dc-column-middle-span-region%26pgType%3DHomepage%26action%3Dclick%26mediaId%3Dthumb_square%26state%3Dstandard%26contentPlacement%3D2%26version%3Dinternal%26contentCollection%3Dwww.nytimes.com%26contentId%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2016%252F06%252F02%252Fus%252Fdate-rape-stopped-fig-santa-monica-facebook.html%26eventName%3DWatching-article-click&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/01/us/politics/schnackenberg-testimony.html?version=meter+at+2&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F06%2F02%2Fus%2Fdate-rape-stopped-fig-santa-monica-facebook.html%3Fmodule%3DWatchingPortal%26region%3Dc-column-middle-span-region%26pgType%3DHomepage%26action%3Dclick%26mediaId%3Dthumb_square%26state%3Dstandard%26contentPlacement%3D2%26version%3Dinternal%26contentCollection%3Dwww.nytimes.com%26contentId%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2016%252F06%252F02%252Fus%252Fdate-rape-stopped-fig-santa-monica-facebook.html%26eventName%3DWatching-article-click&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/01/us/politics/playbook-excerpt.html?version=meter+at+0&module=meter-Links&pgtype=article&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=meter-links-click
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/01/us/politics/nicholas-testimony.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/01/us/politics/sommer-testimony.html
- Bump, Philip (February 25, 2016). "Marco Rubio came out swinging at Trump, and one punch really landed: Trump University". The Washington Post.
- http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/30/politics/katrina-pierson-criticizes-trump-university-judge/
- http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/trump-judge-gonzalo-curiel/484790/
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-university-idUSKCN0YM2K1
- Kurt Orzeck, 'Trump University' Students Win Class Cert. In RICO Suit, Law360 (October 28, 2014).
- ^ David Halperin, NY Court Refuses to Dismiss Trump University Case, Describes Fraud Allegations, Huffington Post (March 3, 2016).
- Barbaro, Michael; Eder, Steve (May 31, 2016). "Former Trump University Workers Call the School a 'Lie' and a 'Scheme' in Testimony". New York Times.
- Douglas Feiden, State educrats give failing grade to Donald Trump's 'misleading' Trump University, Daily News (New York) (April 15, 2010).
- "Trump University Made False Claims, Lawsuit Says". The New York Times. August 24, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
- "Inside Donald Trump's University". New York Times. August 26, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- "Prosecutor: Trump lawsuit no stunt", CNN (August 26, 2013).
- ^ Curran, Eddie (October 16, 2014). "New York judge finds Donald Trump liable for unlicensed school". Reuters. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
- Karen Freifeld (February 1, 2016). "Trump University swindled me, says Iowa retiree". American Media Institute. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
- Hamburger, Tom; Helderman, Rosalind S. (May 31, 2016). "Trump involved in crafting controversial Trump University ads, executive testified". Washington Post. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- King, Robert (February 27, 2016). "Trump blames legal woes on 'Spanish' judge". Fox News. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- "New York Attorney General Schneiderman Fires Back At Trump For Hispanic Judge Remark". CBS New York. February 27, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- Virtanen, Michael (August 31, 2015). "NY ethics board drops Trump's complaint about attorney general during university investigation". Associated Press. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- Barbaro, Michael (May 12, 2011). "Buying a Trump Property, or So They Thought". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- Kearn, Rebekah (April 30, 2015). "$798,000 Award Against Trump University". Courthouse News Services. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
- Michael Barbaro & Steve Edermarch, At Trump University, Students Recall Pressure to Give Positive Reviews, New York Times (March 11, 2016).
- Warmerdam, Elizabeth (October 29, 2014). "Trump Must Answer Students in Fed Court". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
- Fire Ant (February 28, 2014). "Donald Trump to Face Fraud, Racketeering Claims in California Class Actions. New York Fraud Case Continues". New Times Broward-Palm Beach. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- Gerstein, Josh (May 6, 2016). "Judge delays Trump University trial". Politico.
- Ye Hee Lee, Michelle (February 27, 2016). "Donald Trump's misleading claim that he's 'won most of' lawsuits over Trump University". Washington Post. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- "Lawsuits against Trump University claim students paid thousands for nothing". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- Weiner, Tim. "New Web of Trust Topples a Mighty Mexican Cartel". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
- "Trial date set in Trump University lawsuit". CBS News. May 6, 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- East, Kristen (May 28, 2016). "Trump attacks 'Mexican' judge in Trump U lawsuit". Politico. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- Finnegan, Michael (May 27, 2016). "Trumps trashes judge overseeing Trump University case, says it's fine that he's Mexican". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
- Eisenstat, Adam (February 10, 2016). "I was a Donald Trump ghostwriter. Here's what I learned about the Donald — and his fans". Vox.
- "GB Trudeau's Doonesbury". Washington Post Archive. June 7, 2005. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
See also
External links
- Trump University - Official website (archived February 7, 2010)
- Trump Entrepreneur Initiative - Official website (archived July 22, 2010)
- People of the State of New York v. The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC, original complaint, August 2013
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- 2005 establishments in New York
- Assets owned by the Trump Organization
- Companies based in Manhattan
- Companies established in 2005
- Distance education institutions
- Education companies of the United States
- Education in New York City
- Educational institutions established in 2005
- Privately held companies based in New York City
- Unaccredited institutions of higher learning in the United States