New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s fraud suit against “Trump University” can proceed, a four-judge appellate court panel ruled Tuesday. Attorneys for Trump (who is named in the suit along with fellow “University” executive Michael Sexton) had argued that a three-year statute of limitations applied to the fraud claims at issue in the case, which was filed in August 2013. The court Tuesday ruled that the relevant statute of limitations is six years; the so-called school operated between 2005 and 2010.
Schneiderman’s office described Trump University, which hosted expensive seminars that purported to teach the tricks of real-estate investing, as a “sham” that “defrauded more than 5,000 consumers out of millions of dollars.” Among the state of New York’s allegations, as described in dry fashion in Tuesday’s ruling, is that Trump University instructors “in fact had little or no experience in real estate investing, instead having prior work experience such as food service management.”
Trump has referred to the Trump University controversy—two class-action lawsuits have also been filed in San Diego by former Trump U students/customers—as “a small deal.”
