Posted on 02/27/2016 12:19:21 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Many people believe that higher education is a de facto scam. Trump University, Donald Trump's real-estate institution, was a de jure one.
First thing first, Trump University was never a university. When the "school" was established in 2005, the New York State Education Department warned that it was in violation of state law for operating without a NYSED license. Trump ignored the warnings. (The institution is now called, ahem, "Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.") Cue lawsuits.
Trump University is currently the defendant in three lawsuits - two class-action lawsuits filed in California, and one filed in New York by then-attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who told CNN's New Day in 2013: "We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university."
Trump U "students" say the same. In his affidavit, Richard Hewson reported that he and his wife "concluded that we had paid over $20,000 for nothing, based on our belief in Donald Trump and the promises made at the [organization’s] free seminar and three-day workshop." But "the whole thing was a scam."
In fact, $20,000 is only a mid-range loss. The lead plaintiff in one of the California suits, yoga instructor Tarla Makaeff, says she was "scammed" out of $60,000 over the course of her time in Trump U.
How could that have happened? The New York suit offers a suggestion:
The free seminars were the first step in a bait and switch to induce prospective students to enroll in increasingly expensive seminars starting with the three-day $1495 seminar and ultimately one of respondents’ advanced seminars such as the "Gold Elite" program costing $35,000.
At the "free" 90-minute introductory seminars to which Trump University advertisements and solicitations invited prospective students, Trump University instructors engaged in a methodical, systematic series of misrepresentations designed to convince students to sign up for the Trump University three-day seminar at a cost of $1495.
The Atlantic, which got hold of a 41-page "Private & Confidential" playbook from Trump U, has attested to the same:
The playbook says almost nothing about the guest speaker presentations, the ostensible reason why people showed up to the seminar in the first place. Instead, the playbook focuses on the seminars' real purpose: to browbeat attendees into purchasing expensive Trump University course packages.
To do that, instructors touted Trump's own promises: that students would be "mentored" by "handpicked" real-estate experts, who would use Trump's own real-estate strategies. Here’s Trump making the pitch himself:
But according to the New York complaint, none of the instructors was "handpicked" by Trump, many of them came from fields having nothing to do with real-estate, and Trump "'never' reviewed any of Trump University's curricula or programming materials." The materials were "in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies."
Furthermore, Trump's promises that the three-day seminar ($1,495) would include "access to 'private' or 'hard money' lenders and financing," that it would include a "year-long 'apprenticeship support' program," and that it would 'improve the credit scores' of students were empty.
Those empty promises are the subject of a new series of anti-Trump ads by superPAC American Future Fund:
According to Bob, "I never heard from anybody about giving me a list of hard-money lenders":
Kevin, another Trump U "student," says Trump University "ruined" his credit score:
And according to Sherri, a single mother who participated in Trump U: "It was all supposedly supervised by Donald Trump, run by Donald Trump. All of it was just a fake."
In fact, Sherri isn't alone. No student ever met the Donald. Despite hints from Trump University instructors that Trump was "going to be in town," "often drops by," or "might show up," he never did. As Matt Labash recounted in The Weekly Standard: "At one seminar, attendees were told they’d get to have their picture taken with Trump. Instead, they ended up getting snapped with his cardboard cutout." Bob.., had such an "opportunity":
There could be many more ads to come. The New York lawsuit alone represents some 5,000 victims.
Meanwhile, Trump - who maintains that Trump University was "a terrific school that did a fantastic job" - has tried to bully his opponents out of the suit. Lawyers for Tarla Makaeff have requested a protective order from the court "to protect her from further retaliation." According to court documents, Trump has threatened to sue Makaeff personally, as well as her attorneys. He's already brought a $100 million counterclaim against the New York attorney general's office.
But it's not working. Trump himself will have to take the witness stand in San Diego federal court sometime during the election season - and because of the timeline of the cases, a "President Trump" would be embroiled in these suits long after November.
Meanwhile, if there is any doubt that Trump U was designed to be a scam, The Atlantic puts that to rest with a few other choice tidbits from that "Private & Confidential" playbook used by Trump presenters:
Every university has admission standards and Trump University was no exception. The playbook spells out the one essential qualification in caps: "ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED IN FULL." Basically, anyone with a valid credit card was “admitted” to Trump University....
If a member of the media happened to approach the registration table, Trump staffers were instructed not to talk to him or her under any circumstance. "Reporters are rarely on your side and they are not sympathetic," the playbook advises.
And:
At one point, the playbook advises Trump staffers: "If a district attorney arrives on the scene, contact the appropriate media spokesperson immediately."
Sounds legit.
My mother would tell me when I’d make a weak argument like that, “Don’t compare yourself with the worst.”
It’s good advice.
My oh my the Democrats will have a fun time with this
Headline- Billionaire Repub Rips Off Students
Trump Univ sounds a lot like the church of scientology but with real estate not aliens
You’re citing definitive criminality to support the ‘beliefs’ that Trump committed a crime. An excellent prosecutorial argument, but beliefs definitely oppose objectivity.
The story of the Taj Mahal is the story of ego. It is almost biblical in its Old Testament implications. Trump would not heed advice that told him he was building an extravagant folly. Take a look at Trump Airlines, take a look at many of the Trump Enterprises and you will see the same ego at work.
Occasionally his ego paid off because he was using other people's money, and government guarantees, subsidies and loans and often government property. His ego managed to leverage these things. That does not make Donald Trump a genius, or even a remarkable businessman.
It certainly does not make Donald Trump qualified to take the fate of the nation in his hands as president of the United States and that is true even if one never examines this thoroughly sleazy aspects of his character. Do Donald Trump supporters somehow believe that he will come to Jesus minutes before he takes the oath because he has one hand on a Bible?
Donald Trump is a narcissist, a man ridden by his own ego, what folly it would be to place the destiny of your children in the hands of such a man.
>>The materials were “in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies.”
Looks like Trump ‘licensed’ his name again.
“Looks like Trump ‘licensed’ his name again.”
More than his name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvaaeHP9xtQ
Fraudulent activity can be a civil wrong or it can be a criminal wrong. Ponzi, whom I cited, committed both. If the allegations concerning Trump and his phony University are true, he might well have committed criminal as well as civil fraud.
Trump is entitled to a presumption of innocence in the courtroom but not necessarily in the court of public opinion and certainly not when he seeks the most powerful office in the world.
Now Trump is going to scam all of America — especially Conservative Republicans.
To say that others are not perfect is not to justify the manifest and manifold character defects of Donald Trump.
Anyway, I suggest that you consider the biography of Ted Cruz as one who is a perfectly "decent" candidate now running.
http://www.98percentapproval.com/ABOUT.html.
TRUMP HAS A WEB SITE DEDICATED TO DISPELLING ATTACKS AND LIES ABOUT THE SEMINARS.
I regret not replying to a FR post that concerned believing all things written. The realistic poster (I forget who) made the final point — the point that reading “Think and Grow Rich” made him no wealthier.
To steal away the prospect of unreal opportunity is to steal away opportunity. And I can only suppose those marginalizing opportunity have never made the effort.
CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Interview with Donald Trump
Aired April 15, 2009 - 21:00 ET
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0904/15/lkl.01.html
“....KING: With troubled times like this for the average guy who may be foreclosing on his house, is this the time to think like a champion?
TRUMP: Well, this is a time to think like a champion. This is the best time to think like a champion. As an example, the house is being foreclosed. You go see your bank - maybe you can make a deal, maybe you can’t. But you can make a deal with a bank on another house, Larry, because - and much better than the one you’re living in. And they’ll take back financing. They’ll do any deal to get rid of their product.
They have houses by the thousands. And you go see that bank and you make a deal.
And this is a great time for a person to go out, make a deal, get a house bigger and better than the one you’re living in now, except the bank will give you virtually 100 percent financing. They’ll take back a mortgage and you’ll be in better shape than you were before, if you know what you’re doing.
And I discuss that very, very strongly, Larry, in the book.”...
Yes, good plan. Hillary supports it.
So the National Review is regurgitating one side of a lawsuit on behalf of the GOPe.
You’re demonstrating your dislike for Trump. And I respect your objections. But you’re also inflating the allegations of dissatisfied consumers to the level theatrical criminality. Should we defer to the BBB?
Thank you for the suggestion. But Ted fully lost me after witnessing him cozying up to Rubio these past few days.
The divisiveness and nastiness this primary cycle is just the worst I’ve seen it yet. It was bad last time around in ‘12, but this is definitely worse in how it’s managed to get under everyone’s skin (including my own).
Whoever ends up limping away from this as the pyrrhic nominee will be badly wounded going into the general.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvaaeHP9xtQ
At 1:00 begins Trump selling his personal involvement to the viewers.
A for-profit educational corporation that has donated to the Clinton Foundation agreed to pay $95.5 million to the Obama administration as a settlement for a government lawsuit alleging that it was using illegal tactics to lure in prospective students.
The Education Management Corporation was sued by the Department of Justice in 2011 for multiple recruitment violations, including paying its recruiters based on the number of students it enrolled, and exaggerating the career opportunities that were available to graduates. The lawsuit argued that the violations made the corporation ineligible for the $11 billion in state and federal financial aid it has received since 2003.
On top of the $95.5 million settlement, the group also agreed to forgive more than $100 million in loans it made to former students, according to the Associated Press. (Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
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MORE CLINTON DIRT--Laureate Education is a for-profit education firm; ex-Pres Clinton is a paid honorary chancellor.
This organization has some unusual practices.
For instance, its students serve as telemarketers who pitch the school to prospective new students. It operates in at least three countries (Turkey, Mexico and Chile) where for-profit universities are illegal, author Schweizer notes.
Douglas Becker (a FOB), runs the for-profit university, which engages Bill Clinton to give speeches several times a year. Based on Clintons gargantuan fee scale, that works out to Pres Bill getting perhaps $1 million a year from Laureate, Clinton Cash author Schweizer estimates.
(NOTE On falsified disclosure forms, Pres Bill revealed only that he has been paid more than $1,000 by Laureate.)
Becker also runs a related nonprofit, International Youth Foundation, which coincidentally found its federal grant money has exploded (according to author Schweizer) since Hillary became secretary of state (in 2009) and Bill became honorary chancellor of Becker/s profit-seeking company.
Many of International Youth Foundation grants came from tax dollars---from a State Dept agency---USAID.
Then SoS Hillary took official control of USAID, a move that dramatically reduced its independence, Clinton Cash author Schweizer says.
After the disgraceful Gang of Eight, it’s incomprehensible that any conservative would support Rubio and the struggle against it by Ted Cruz was admirable. In what way did Cruz cozy up to Rubio in the past few days?
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