The New York State attorney general’s office has filed a civil lawsuit against the business-eduation company formerly known as “Trump University,” accusing it of engaging in illegal business practices, The New York Times reported. The lawsuit seeks restitution of at least $40-million.
The company, founded by the real-estate mogul Donald J. Trump, offers courses and seminars in real-estate investing. The lawsuit accuses Mr. Trump, the Trump Organization, and others of running the school as an unlicensed educational institution from 2005 to 2011 and making false claims about its classes. According to the Better Business Bureau, Trump University changed its name in 2010 to the Trump Entrepreneurial Initiative.
In a statement, the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said Mr. Trump had appeared in advertisements and made “false promises” to persuade people “to spend tens of thousands of dollars they couldn’t afford for lessons they never got.” Michael Cohen, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, denied the accusations in the lawsuit and told the Times that the school had received 11,000 evaluations, 98 percent of which rated students as “extremely satisfied.”
