Donald Trump has settled the fraud lawsuits related to his now-defunct Trump University for $25 million – shutting down accusations of fraud while admitting no wrongdoing.
The settlement came Friday afternoon and was confirmed by New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who had led the charge against Trump and painted the tycoon’s former school for real estate investors as little more than a scam.
The Daily Mail reports,
Three cases against Trump – two class-action lawsuits in California and a civil suit filed by Schneiderman – are expected to be put to rest.
The $25 million, to be paid by Trump or one of his business entities, include restitution for students and $1 million in penalties to the state, Schneiderman said.
Schneiderman had previously called Trump University a ‘fraud from beginning to end.’
The suits against the school claimed that Trump University failed to deliver the quality real estate investing education it promised.
Friday’s deal doesn’t require Trump to acknowledge wrongdoing.
Former students have bashed the university in recent months, with some of them calling it a scam that had robbed them of up to $35,000 apiece for useless real estate classes.
Trump University was launched in 2005 and closed five years later amid growing legal troubles.
Attorneys for the president-elect had previously tried to get one of the California suits delayed while Trump was busy negotiating his transition into his presidency.
Trump had said he wouldn’t settle the case because he thought it would be easy to win in court.
He had repeatedly denied the fraud allegations during his presidential campaign.
‘Do you know that almost everybody in the lawsuit has signed a letter saying how great the school was? That’s why I won’t settle because it’s an easy case to win in court,’ Trump said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in February.
Trump’s legal team at one point tried to have comments he made throughout the election excluded from the trial, claiming his tweets and outlandish remarks towards women, minorities and other groups could affect his credibility. Their motion was denied.
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