U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel of San Diego approved Donald Trump’s $25 million Trump University settlement Friday, bringing an end to years of litigation centered on fraudulent business practices by the former real estate school headed by the President of the United States.
The Friday ruling settles lawsuits in both California and New York, including the civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman accused Trump of running a “bait-and-switch scheme” with the now defunct Trump University, misleading students into believing that Donald Trump himself was designing courses that would help them get rich in the real estate business. The state’s complaint also alleged that Trump University instructors frequently told their students they needed to purchase “elite” course packages costing as much as $35,000 and encouraged students to go into debt in order to buy them.
Attorneys for former Trump University participants said thousands of them will get “at least 90 percent of their money back,” Time reported.
Trump has often bragged that he never settles, but his election to country’s highest office made settling by far the easiest option. As a consequence of the settlement, Trump will admit no wrongdoing. [TIME] — Will Parker