New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files Donald Trump 'University' $40 million fraud suit

[NYC Liberal]

Source: NY Daily News

ALBANY — Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is taking on Donald Trump in a new $40 million lawsuit.

Schneiderman’s office accuses Trump of defrauding more than 5,000 people nationwide through his “Trump University” that offered free seminars to help them get rich by teaching real estate-investing techniques used by the billionaire developer-turned-reality TV star.

Schneiderman, who filed the lawsuit Saturday in Manhattan state Supreme Court, accused Trump of engaging in a “bait and switch.”

“Trading on his celebrity status, Mr. Trump personally appeared in advertisements making false promises to convince people to spend tens of thousands of dollars they couldn’t afford for lessons they never got,” Schneiderman said. “No one, no matter how rich or famous they are, has a right to scam hardworking New Yorkers. Anyone who does should expect to be held accountable.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/new-york-attorney-general-schneiderman-sues-donald-trump-40-million-fraud-suit-article-1.1436105

[Shrike47]

1. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

[jmowreader]

2. Something Mr. Schneiderman needs to add to his suit is Trump's track record

Donald Trump has gone bankrupt three times.

Trump is very rich. He got that way by taking risks no sensible person would take, using amounts of money no sensible person would risk and that no one except for Donald Trump, who has a track record of being right more often than he's wrong, would have access to. Investing with Trump is like buying into one of Romney's LBOs: no one does it to make T-bills plus 40 basis points. You do it to double your money, and the prospect of doubling your money requires that you be willing to lose all of it.

[tabasco]

3. Give me a fucking break

Trump inherited $200 million from his daddy. THAT'S how he got rich.

[LiberalFighter]

4. He had a daddy?

That thing on his head would say he didn't.

[dawn frenzy adams]

13. Indeed!

Yep, it was Daddy.

[DainBramaged]

17. You sure he isn't a genetic experiment by Monsanto?

[KoKo]

22. lol's...

[formercia]

24. I'm pretty sure that Trump's Hair is a failed experiment by Monsanto.

[olegramps]

25. Right on. He is nothing more than a crook.

[cosmicone]

30. Most people don't realize

that if Trump had put the $200 million in a bank, he would be richer today than all of his shenanigans investing that money. Trump is so highly leveraged, he has no equity in anything he owns.

He calls himself a billionaire but his real net worth is less than $40 million.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. He's not that rich...

he claims he's worth billions because he adds up the value of everything with his name on it.

The thing is, though he owns just one or two percent of those properties, if anything at all. Sometimes it's just a fee to put his name on there.

[jmowreader]

11. He's made more money than you or I have...

and he's done it exactly the way I said: being the poster child for the More Balls than Brains Club.

The ONLY way you can get rich in commercial real estate is through recklessness, which is how Trump operates. Commercial real estate is so notoriously UNprofitable that commercial RE managed conservatively survives only through a tax loophole called the passive-loss deduction. The proof is easy to demonstrate: when Reagan killed that loophole in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the 747 savings & loans that were most heavily invested in commercial RE collapsed shortly thereafter.

Trump's wealth is also "paper" wealth - securities, licensing contracts for his name, and RE holdings. We could probably pull together 20 random DUers, add up the amounts we have in the bank, and come up with more liquid wealth than Trump holds.

[rtracey]

16. yes

You are correct, he has made more money then me, or you, but then again, you were not handed 200 million from you parents either, same with Mitt Romney, he was given millions to make millions...paper money or not, he was part of a scheme to defraud....even if those who signed up wanted to get rich quick...

[FogerRox]

27. He also lost more money than you and I have ever made.

[jmowreader]

29. Exactly right

And most of the money he lost was what the investing circle calls OPM - other people's money.

Donald Trump is running what is essentially an unregistered hedge fund. Like a hedge fund, he plays fast and loose with OPM in hopes of making the Big Score. When he does, the OP who came up with the M make out like bandits and Trump gets his name on the front page of the paper. When he doesn't, he gets his name in the Legals.

[Cha]

5. Whoa! Get him, Schneiderman!

Mahalo, NYC Liberal~

[DainBramaged]

18. ....

[alp227]

6. THIS guy needs to be in the Justice Dept.

Unlike most of the cowardly incompetents in office today.

[bobclark86]

21. NY has a great track record...

Elliot Spitzer was an unabashed ballbuster, the "Sheriff of Wall Street," who did more than the entire federal Justice Department under every president in the last 30 years against white-collar assholes. Andrew Cuomo continued the tradition, as well as Mr. Schneiderman. We also have a good Comptroller, who has done all sorts of fun stuff, like rip the budgets of his own party to shreds, audit the crap out of local governments (including every school district in the state) and smack down the boards of companies the state invests with (demanding fun things like the board chairman and CEO not being the same person, etc.).

[truebluegreen]

8. Heh. nt

[MindMover]

9. His lawyers have already told him his losses will amount to less than a million ....

and whats a million to this guy....horse manure....bullhockey...just to give the 99ers somethin to talk about over there 7 dollar starbuck....frickin ridiculous society...

[Brother Buzz]

10. I thought this Trump 'University' scam was exposed years ago

Ah, I see...

Trump University was put on notice by the state Education Department as far back as 2005 that it was not licensed to call itself a university and changed its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Institute in 2010.

[JI7]

12. i would love to see him in prison

[dawn frenzy adams]

14. Why?

Aren't these criminal violations.

[Berlum]

15. Republican Family Values, University-Style

They should sue the Trumpster's ugly freaking phony toupee, too.

[jessie04]

19. 5000 people x 20 years per indictment.

sounds about right.

[malthaussen]

20. I like this guy.

Wasn't Mr Schneiderman the only AG who refused to agree to the mortgage fraud sellout... uh, I mean "fair and equitable settlement?" Maybe he and PA's great new AG should get together and, er, form a ticket.

-- Mal

[BrainMann1]

23. I think this will take his mind off Obama for a while.

[yurbud]

26. I hope the stink sticks to him. and he loses his TV show with with worst prize EVER

Working for him.

Jesus!

That should be like a punishment for serial killers and child molesters, not a reward for anyone.

[vinny9698]

28. Trump has been sued before over his use of lending his name for a large fee.

Trump went down to Florida to promote a large condo project, he was their spokesperson and the condo investors paid him a fee to use his name on the project. People bought condos up front and laid down payments before anything was built. When the house bubble burst, the condo investors filed for bankruptcy and the people lost their money. The people then sued Trump, but Trump said he wasn't the investor, he was just paid a fee to deliver a sales presentation and to use his name.

[Myrina]

31. Take everything he's got & give him a job at McDonald's, a rent-by-the-week room & a bus pass.

Same for all the damn bank/investment shysters.