Here's not a surprising story: Donald Trump, his three oldest children, and the Trump Organization are being sued in a class action lawsuit for being con artists.
The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court on behalf of four individuals, claims that Trump and Co. used their brand to swindle millions "unsophisticated investors" to participate in shady schemes.
The lawsuit claims that the Trump's promised business opportunities in three companies, in exchange for "secret" payments, that the Trump's "deliberately misled" investors.
The lawsuit claims that the Trump's engaged in "a pattern of racketeering activity." That the Trump's "were aware that the vast majority of consumers would lose whatever money they invested in the business opportunities and training programs."
The three businesses:
1) ACN Opportunity: a telecommunications marketing company
2) the Trump Network: a vitamin & health product marketing company
3) the Trump Institute: a seminar program that "purported to sell Trump's 'secrets to success.'"
CNN points out that the lawsuit has ties to Democratic candidates:
The lawsuit is being funded by a nonprofit with ties to Democratic candidates, the Tesseract Research Center, according to a spokesman for the law firm Kaplan, Hecker & Fink. A partner in that firm, Roberta Kaplan, as well as Andrew G. Celli Jr., of Emery, Celli, Brinckerhoff & Abady, are representing the plaintiffs.
The lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten, said the case was "completely meritless" and in a statement said, "This is clearly just another effort by opponents of the President to use the court system to advance a political agenda."
Garten said with the midterms being so close, that the lawsuits "motivations here are as plain as day."
A spokesman for the plaintiffs' legal team said that lawsuit was filed as soon as it was ready, and that they "did a thorough investigation and a lot of legal research, and the plaintiffs are eager to file." The spokesman also added that, "No matter when this was filed, the Trump Org would say it was politically motivated."
Whether the lawsuit was purposely filed just before the midterms, or not, I don't care. This isn't the first time Trump has been sued for being a con artist, by using his celebrity to fool suckers into making business decisions that benefits Trump and his family, while leaving the sucker with nothing.
We saw this same thing with Trump University, and CNN notes how the lawsuit claims that Trump's tactics were the same in this scam, as that of the Trump University scam:
The new lawsuit filed Monday contends that, as in the Trump University case, the Trump brand and the apparent endorsement from Trump himself were critical in luring unsuspecting investors to the sham companies he promoted.
"Indeed, for the working people who fell prey to the Investments, the Trump endorsement was typically the first thing they learned about the Investments, the reason they took an interest, and the determining factor in their decision to invest," the lawsuit says.
As the saying goes: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
When are people going to see that Trump and his family are complete con artists out to make money, even if to completely fucks you over?
Whether it's this lawsuit, Trump University, or developments busts in Florida. Donald Trump and his family are business frauds.
Trump may be able to buy his way out of being called a "shyster," but he is one:
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