SAN DIEGO: A $25-million settlement was reached on Friday in three fraud lawsuits filed against President-elect Donald Trump and his now-defunct Trump University real estate seminar business.
The agreement covers two class-action lawsuits filed in San Diego and a third suit brought by the New York state attorney general.
The lawsuits claimed that Trump had defrauded customers into thinking they would learn real estate secrets from professors personally selected by him. The students said they learnt little and instead were subjected to hard-sell tactics urging them to spend thousands on classes.
Under terms of the settlement, Trump will not acknowledge or admit any liability or wrongdoing; $21 million will be spread among plaintiffs in the two San Diego cases, and parties to the New York case will get $4 million.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys agreed to work pro bono, maximising the amount the students can recover.
The 7,000-plus eligible class members should be able to recover at least half — and possibly 100 per cent of the money they spent on Trump University — said plaintiff attorney Jason Forge.
Some students had paid up to $35,000 on “elite” university memberships that offered a year of mentorship. Some said they were encouraged to max out credit cards to pay for the instruction.
“Students will be very pleased to be able to pay their credit card bills and move on with their lives,” plaintiff attorney Rachel Jensen said.
During the presidential campaign, Trump on several occasions said he would not settle the cases.
His attorney Daniel Petrocelli said outside court on Friday that he was not sure what path the case would have taken if Trump hadn’t been elected, but that Trump was a “fighter”.
“President(-elect) Trump is pleased to have this case behind him so he can focus on every important issue facing this country,” Petrocelli said. “He was willing to sacrifice his personal interests to put this behind him and move forward.”
The settlement terms were reached in the final hours before a 1.45pm hearing in San Diego before US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the two class-action lawsuits. Last week, Curiel suggested that both sides meet with US District Judge Jeffrey Miller to see if a settlement could be worked out before the first case went to trial on November 28.
Both sides spent all day on Wednesday with Miller, and on Thursday worked to include the New York attorney general’s office in the settlement, Petrocelli said.
Because it involves class-action litigation, the deal still must be approved by Curiel. The judge said he needs to make sure it is “fair, appropriate and reasonable”. That is expected to take at least a month.
If Curiel grants preliminary approval, then notices will go out to the class members, who can object or opt out of the agreement.
