Tough Break for the Bigotry Tornado

[Content Note: Fraud; exploitation.]

Couldn't happen to a nicer crook:

Super Tuesday has gotten off to a not-so-super start for Donald Trump - a state appeals court has given a green light to a lawsuit that charges his Trump University was a fraud.

In a unanimous ruling, a four judge panel of the state Appellate Division said the state Attorney General's office is "authorized to bring a cause of action for fraud" - despite the bloviating billionaire's claims to the contrary.

...Schneiderman charged Trump University, which operated between 2004 and 2010, was a sham that ripped off its students, beginning with a "free" seminar.

The suit said "although Trump University speakers represented that the three-day seminar would teach students all they needed to know to be successful real estate investors, the instructors at those three-day seminars then engaged in a 'bait and switch,' telling students that they needed to attend yet another seminar for an additional $5,000 in order to learn more about particular lenders."

The AG's suit charged that through "their deceptive and unlawful practices, (Trump and the school) intentionally misled over 5,000 individuals nationwide, including over 600 New Yorkers, into paying as much as $35,000 each to participate in live seminars and mentorship programs with the promise of learning Donald Trump's real estate investing techniques."

It also charged they "repeatedly deceived students into thinking that they were attending a legally chartered 'university'" and "intentionally misrepresented, through advertisements and oral misrepresentations, that prospective students would be taught by successful real estate 'experts' who were 'handpicked' by Mr. Trump when, as alleged by petitioner, not a single instructor was actually handpicked by Mr. Trump.

..."The Attorney General further maintained that the instructors had been inadequately vetted and in fact had little or no experience in real estate investing, instead having prior work experience such as food service management and graphic design," the appeals court noted.

I saw a news item about "Trump University" recently, and it was absolutely appalling. Just a gold-plated pyramid scheme that exploited people without remorse.

I doubt this is going to have much effect on his campaign; he'll wave it off with one of his "I just whiffed shit" expressions and some argle-bargle about how he wins all his lawsuits because he's a tremendously classy businessman.

But I do hope that some of the people who were taken advantage of by "Trump University" get some well-deserved damages from it.