Nearly two years ago, Trump University was declared a scam and students who had paid massive amounts of tuition for an education they didn’t receive were awarded a settlement to reimburse them. Donald Trump has never apologized.
Grifters.https://t.co/cXlYgpHyw4
— New Civil Rights (@newcivilrights) February 1, 2019
Now, yet another business fraud scam has come to light, and this time, it involves Trump’s three eldest children. A lawsuit has been filed accusing the Trumps of promoting a scam business opportunity on The Apprentice.
The Detroit News reports that:
‘The group, which sued in October, filed an amended complaint Thursday that expanded claims that Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump systematically defrauded people who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each to work with a marketing firm they endorsed called ACN Inc. ACN allegedly promised business opportunities with little risk and was widely promoted on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” television show.’
A reminder: here's one reason @DonaldJTrumpJr could still be in trouble in the Trump-Russia investigation. Did he lie to Congress?https://t.co/WJVCwXDBFt
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) February 1, 2019
It wasn’t just a vocal promotion that brought about the lawsuit, either. The co-founders of the sham business appeared numerous times on Trump’s reality television show and his children worked to promote it on social media, television, and elsewhere.
‘The Trump children did more than just lend their names to ACN, the amended lawsuit says. The siblings appeared repeatedly with ACN co-founders on their father’s TV show, as well as in photographs, social-media posts and other materials, according to the plaintiffs, who seek to remain anonymous to avoid a backlash from Trump.’
A lawsuit claims President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump Donald Trump Jr. along with his organization profited from a marketing scheme to prey on investors that was aimed at recruiting teens, promising them success as "The Trumps of Tomorrow." https://t.co/9TkVQna0LC pic.twitter.com/CZEOjPsFnM
— TheResistance Report (@AntiTrumpReport) January 31, 2019
Trump, who pretends he wrote a book called The Art of the Deal and is a wildly successful billionaire, has been known for being a scam artist in New York business circles for some time. It seems the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with his children. Of all products to promote as part of ACN’s “great business opportunity,” one of the main products was a video phone.
‘From 2005 to at least 2015, the Trump family received millions of dollars in secret payments to promote ACN to people who hoped to get rich selling its products, according to the lawsuit. ACN’s flagship product was a “doomed” desktop video phone that could connect calls only between two ACN customers and was quickly eclipsed by services like Skype and the advent of smartphones.’
Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Erik Trump targeted in lawsuit https://t.co/iphVm9oKJo
— Nguyen #fbpe #fbr (@haaohaoo) February 1, 2019
All four Trumps, Donald and his three oldest children, used their revived celebrity status because of the success of The Apprentice to lend legitimacy and exposure to the ACN scam pyramid promotion scheme, and the people who trusted them and invested now say they want their money back.
‘In February 2015, ACN posted a photo album on Facebook with images of four ACN representatives in Trump’s private plane, as well as at a taping of the season finale of The Celebrity Apprentice’ and the after-party at Trump Tower, according to the suit.
‘The revised lawsuit also added specific recollections of the plaintiffs hearing Trump praise ACN when the company’s founder appeared on his hit show The Celebrity Apprentice.’ “You have a great opportunity before you at ACN without any of the risk most entrepreneurs have to take,” one plaintiff recalled Trump saying, according to the suit.’
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
