Whiner’s Den

Donald Trump and his “children” (all adults) must testify in a lawsuit in which it is claimed they ripped off Americans. Here’s the intro to the case for your reading enjoyment:

1. This case is about four working-class Americans, and tens of thousands more just like them, who were deliberately defrauded by Donald J. Trump, his family, and the corporation that bears their name. The Trumps conned each of these victims into giving up hundreds or thousands of dollars—losses that many experienced as devastating and life-altering. 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.

2. For more than a decade, Defendants The Trump Corporation, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump (the latter four, collectively, the “Individual Defendants”) have operated a large and complex enterprise with a singular goal: to enrich themselves by systematically defrauding economically marginalized people looking to invest in their educations, start their own small businesses, and pursue the American Dream.

3. Central to Defendants’ fraudulent scheme was a company called ACN, a multi- level marketing company (“MLM”) that offers a business opportunity to individual participants. From 2005 to at least 2015, Defendants received millions of dollars in secret payments to promote and endorse ACN. In return, Donald J. Trump (“Trump”) told prospective investors that “[y]ou have a great opportunity before you at ACN without any of the risks most entrepreneurs have to take,” and that ACN’s flagship videophone was doing “half-a-billion dollars’ worth of sales a year.” Trump also told investors that he had “experienced the opportunity” and “done a lot of research,” and that his endorsement was “not for any money.” Not a word of this was true.

4. In the minds of many Americans, the Trump brand was once synonymous with entrepreneurial success. Indeed, Trump spent years cultivating a brand for himself and his family based on the impression that he was a successful entrepreneur. Defendants conducted the affairs of their enterprise as a fraudulent scheme to leverage that brand, and use a series of false and misleading statements and omissions, to ensnare vulnerable consumers in certain so-called business opportunities and training programs like ACN.

GALLUP POLL:

Fifty-eight percent of Americans want the Senate to confirm judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, tied for the highest initial support for a nominee in Gallup’s trends.