U.S. District Court Judge Lorna Schofield approved of a federal fraud lawsuit aimed at President Donald Trump and his three eldest children.
The suit was originally filed in 2018 by four anonymous plaintiffs. It claims that the family accepted “secret” payments to promote ACN Opportunity, a telecommunications company, through their Celebrity Apprentice television show.
“Weighing the two ‘most critical’ factors – likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm – against each other,” Schofield wrote in her ruling. “Any prejudice that Defendants and ACN may suffer from proceeding with the litigation during the pendency of the appeal does not outweigh the strong likelihood that Defendants and ACN will not succeed on appeal.”
The suit also accuses the family of manipulating marginalized people seeking to improve their lives through the Trump brand for their own economic gain. They sought “to invest in their education, start their own small business, and pursue the American dream” and were “deliberately misled” about their chances of success by the Trumps.
“The Trumps conned each of these victims into giving up hundreds or thousands of dollars — losses that many experienced as a devastating and life-altering,” the suit states. “Surely the Trumps dismissed these amounts (and the lives they wrecked) as trivial. But by defrauding so many for so long, the Trumps made millions.”
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