President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to settle fraud lawsuits in New York and California related to his Trump University real estate seminars for $25 million on Friday, November 18, a source told Reuters.
Claims brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who first filed the New York class-action civil suit in 2013, will represent about $4 million of that sum, the source said.
A source told CNBC that Trump will not admit to any wrongdoing in the final agreement. The settlement comes just a few weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin on November 28.
Former students of the now-defunct university claim the school fraudulently misrepresented what students would be taught and used high-pressure sales tactics to force people to enroll.
Schneiderman initially sought $40 million from the ex–Apprentice host and accused him of swindling more than 5,000 people. According to Bloomberg, the attorney general alleged that Trump had little involvement in the school despite the school marketing that he “handpicked” instructors. Some of those teachers had little training and were former fast-food or retail workers, Schneiderman says.
Trump University has a 98% approval rating. I could have settled but won’t out of principle!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 29, 2016
The settlement seems to be a complete 180 for the business mogul, who had previously said he would not settle the case. “Trump University has a 98% approval rating. I could have settled but won’t out of principle!” he tweeted in February. He reaffirmed his stance in March during an MSNBC interview. “It would be easy for me to settle the case. It’s a simple civil case. Probably I should, but I don’t want to because I give them a great soundbite. I don’t settle cases,” he said. “I don’t get sued because I don’t settle cases. I win in court.”
