Former students at Trump University accuse Trump and his school of using misleading advertising to dupe 5000 individuals – 600 of them New Yorkers – to pay up to $US35,000 for seminars and mentorships through the unlicensed, unaccredited “university”.
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On May 27, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel signed an order allowing court documents relating to the case to be released to the public.
Potential students were required to provide a list of their assets, and Trump University employees were instructed to sort the students depending on how much in liquid assets they had.
“I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme“, one sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, wrote, “and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money”. He’s now one of many former students suing in class action lawsuits against Trump University.
“It is our job to rekindle that motivation, to make them once again see the potential of achieving their dream”. “In fact, when I ran, they said, ‘Why don’t you settle up that case?’ I don’t want to settle the case”.
The business offered several courses in entrepreneurship, under the famous Trump brand.
Jason Nicholas, another witness for the plaintiffs who worked as a sales associate for five months in 2007, also said he was appalled by what went on at the university.
“The words “I noticed” have a powerful subconscious effect on people because they send a subliminal message to them that they stood out in the crowd, that they are attractive or charismatic or that they impressed you”, the playbook continues.
The price of attending Trump University ranged from $1,495 for a three-day seminar to “Gold Elite” programs costing $35,000, according to CNN.
Trump University’s core customers are identified in the documents as male heads of households between 40 and 54 years old with annual household incomes of at least $90,000, a college education and a net worth of more than $200,000.
The “playbook” contains advice for “closing” the sale with students, including how to assuage concerns about possibly going into debt to pay for courses, how to talk to a sceptical spouse about the value of the courses and how to take photos that will be part of the pitch. “Let them know you’ve found an answer to their problems”.
“His own employees testified that Trump U – you can’t make this up – that Trump U was a fraudulent scheme where Donald Trump enriched himself at the expense of hard-working people”, Mrs Clinton told supporters at a rally in Newark, New Jersey.
Like Sommer, Schnackenberg questioned the qualifications of the instructors, recalling one whose background was in jewelry making rather than real estate.
The business mogul also said he thought Curiel was Mexican, stating that this may be the reason why he would unseal the documents and potentially hurt Trump’s presidential campaign.
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The documents show meticulous attention to details such as seating at seminars. The video recently filmed at Trump Tower in NY features Hoban, a CT bottled-water entrepreneur who said he earned “incalculable” profits on real estate deals after attending one of Trump’s two-day courses about a decade ago.
