A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the $25m settlement against Donald Trump over his now-defunct Trump University program, meaning thousands who were lured to attend his expensive but overblown real-estate seminars will finally get most of their money back.
Payment of the settlement had been held up for more than a year after one victim tried to reject the original deal reached via a series of class actions, and pursue her own lawsuit.
Trump had pledged not to settle and fight all the way to a court showdown, but after he won the election in November 2016, his lawyers settled three fraud cases on his behalf, for a total of $25m, including restitution and fines.
The settlement resolved lawsuits filed in New York and California that claimed the so-called university – which was not a registered university but a program of seminars the Trump-owned company would market to the public and hold at local hotels – failed to deliver on promises to teach people how to get rich quickly in the real estate business.
Many students paid out $35,000 for lessons from so-called experts “hand-picked” by Trump, who appeared in adverts boasting that clients would make a million dollars in a year. Many never made any profits and struggled under debt after maxing-out their credit cards during persuasive sales talks to pay for courses.
Eric Schneiderman, attorney general of New York who sued Trump, said:
“Today’s approval … means that victims of Donald Trump’s fraudulent university will soon receive the relief they deserve.”
Amber Eck, a leading attorney in the California class action cases, said she was thrilled that the appeals court agreed the settlement was “fair and reasonable”.
The Guardian
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
