New York attorney general slams Trump University as 'straight up fraud'

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last updated 2 June 2016

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman deemed everything about Trump University, down to its very name, a "fraud" during a Thursday interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. "This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization. You can't just go around saying this is the George Stephanopoulos Law Firm/Hospital/University without actually qualifying and registering, so it was really a fraud from beginning to end," Schneiderman said.

There are three lawsuits pending against Trump University — one of which was filed in New York by Schneiderman — accusing the real estate program of deceiving students and leaving them saddled with huge amounts of debt. Even if students did like the $35,000 program, as Trump has claimed, Schneiderman insists that doesn't make it okay. "This is straight up fraud," Schneiderman said. "It's like selling people a Mercedes and getting a Volkswagen. Even if people say, 'I kind of like the Volkswagen,' it's still fraud, not a Mercedes."

Schneiderman says he's "confident" that he can prove that Trump "didn't do this for free" — he says "initial estimates are that [Trump] personally pocketed $5 million" from Trump University — and he added that Trump can be called to testify even if he were to win the presidential election. "The law is very clear. The law protects the gullible as well as the sophisticated," Schneiderman said. "As we've seen over the course of the last year, there are a lot of people who fall for Mr. Trump's promises and rhetoric."