Trump University, an American money-making education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 to 2010, co-founded by President-elect Donald J. Trump, was recently brought into the public’s awareness due to several scandals.
Despite Trump University’s claim that it offered “graduate programs, postgraduate programs, doctorate programs,” it wasn’t a university at all. It was a company that was dedicated to selling Trump’s secret insights into how to make money in real estate.
Many different individuals accused the university of fraud, filing lawsuits that stated that Trump University cheated students out of thousands of dollars in tuition through high-pressure sales tactics and deceptive claims about the program. The suits asserted fraud claims on behalf of approximately 6,000 former students who had enrolled in the President-elect’s seminar.
On November 18, Trump agreed to a $25 million settlement to resolve a series of lawsuits against his now-nonexistent Trump University and quickly went on Twitter to state his opinion on the matter: “The ONLY bad thing about winning the presidency is that I did not have time to go through a long but winning on Trump University. Too Bad,” he tweeted.
Later on that same day Trump sent out a second tweet: “I settled the Trump University lawsuit for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country.”
Trump’s charitable foundation will not be paying any of the $25 million settlement, although in the past he has used money from his foundation to settle lawsuits arising from his business and personal activities.
The $25 million figure will be split among the students who sued. Minus the legal fees, most of the students will be receiving close to 50 percent of what they lost. Trump will also pay up to $1 million in penalties to the state of New York.
