Donald Trump yesterday defended his decision to settle lawsuits over his Trump University real estate seminars for $25mn, saying he does not have time to fight the fraud cases in court now that he is headed to the White House.
The lawsuits cast a shadow over the Republican’s presidential campaign and led to one of the more controversial moments of his run for the White House when he claimed the judge overseeing two of the cases was biased because he was of Mexican ancestry.
While denying any wrongdoing, Trump agreed on Friday to pay $25mn to settle the lawsuits.
“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 wrote on Twitter yesterday morning.
“The ONLY bad thing about winning the Presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U.
Too bad!” He said in a second tweet.
In announcing the settlement, New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said the deal followed repeated refusals by Trump “to settle for even modest amounts of compensation for the victims of his phony university”.
“Today’s $25mn settlement agreement is a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university,” New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman said.
“I am pleased that under the terms of this settlement, every victim will receive restitution and that Donald Trump will pay up to $1mn in penalties to the State of New York for violating state education laws.”
A spokesperson for Schneiderman’s office said the settlement covers all three class-action lawsuits against Trump University: two in California dating to 2010 and one in New York filed in 2013.
Students had claimed they were they were lured by false promises into paying up to $35,000 to learn Trump’s real estate investing secrets from his hand-picked instructors.
Trump’s lawyers denied this.
The deal covers three lawsuits relating to Trump University: two class actions suits in California and a New York case brought by Schneiderman.
US district judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego must still approve the settlement.
During his election campaign, Trump said that Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents, could not be impartial because of Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to control illegals.
A trio of suits brought by former students alleged that the training programme — which was not an accredited college or university, but was in operation from 2005 to 2011 — fleeced students by tricking them with aggressive marketing.
Trump’s lawyers had countered for years that many students had given the program a thumbs-up and those who failed to succeed had only themselves to blame.
But, with the president-elect apparently seeking to put the thorny matter to rest as he builds his cabinet, a deal was reached.
Robert Guillo, a 76-year-old New Yorker who spent nearly $40,000 on tuition alongside his son, had previously told AFP that the program was an “absolute scam”.
“I learned absolutely nothing,” Guillo said. “He fooled me for $35,000.”
The agreement came just before a hearing in a San Diego federal court was about to begin to decide on a request by Trump to delay the trial.
Jason Forge, one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in the San Diego cases, hailed the settlement.
“This case has been unprecedented in so many ways,” he told AFP. “It’s only fitting that it end with an unprecedented recovery for so many people.”
He added that the settlement proves the students had a valid case.
“This man fights for what he believes in and I respect that,” Forge said, referring to Trump. “So this settlement means he believed that the students deserved a real recovery.”
He said $21mn of the settlement would go to reimburse the Trump University plaintiffs in San Diego.
The remainder would go to the attorney general in New York to reimburse plaintiffs in that case.
Forge added that the aggrieved former students could expect their money within three to four months.
Lead Trump attorney Daniel Petrocelli said his client had put aside his personal feelings to settle the matter.
“President-elect Trump is pleased to put this case behind him,” Petrocelli told reporters in San Diego. “We think it’s a victory for everybody.”
Trump agreed to the settlement without admitting any fault or liability, Petrocelli added.
A Trump Organization spokesman insisted that had the case gone to trial, Trump would have won.
“While we have no doubt that Trump University would have prevailed at trial based on the merits of this case, resolution of these matters allows president-elect Trump to devote his full attention to the important issues facing our great nation,” the spokesman said in a statement read on CNN. In February, Trump tweeted that the programme had a 98% approval rating and that he would not settle out of principle.