Donald Trump is gearing up for a civil trial, facing allegations of deceiving investors in a failed video phone venture linked to ACN Inc, known as the ‘Video Phone Investment Scam.’ The trial, set for January 29 but potentially subject to delay, has been spotlighted by Newsweek.
The class action lawsuit, initiated by four anonymous plaintiffs, accuses Trump, along with his children Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, and an affiliate of the Trump Organization, of misrepresenting the prospects of ACN. They allege that the Trumps received secret payments from 2005 to 2015 in exchange for endorsing ACN.
The plaintiffs contend that Trump’s endorsements, including those on ‘The Celebrity Apprentice,’ led them to erroneously believe that their investments in ACN’s videophones, priced at $499, among other products, would be successful. Filed in 2018 in a Manhattan court, the lawsuit claims the primary aim of the Trumps was self-enrichment, involving the receipt of millions in undisclosed payments.
According to the lawsuit, Trump falsely represented his involvement and research in the venture, claiming he had not received money for his endorsement. Initially, the Trumps dismissed the lawsuit as politically driven and argued that Trump’s endorsement was merely personal opinion. However, in the previous year, the plaintiffs narrowed their focus to Donald Trump, dropping the case against his children to streamline the dispute.
Depositions from the Trump children have reportedly pinpointed Donald Trump as the “architect, principal actor, and largest beneficiary” of the purported fraudulent scheme, as stated by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. Despite the removal of the Trump children as defendants, their deposition testimonies are expected to play a significant role in the trial against Trump and his organization.
