Trump Fraud Class Action Accusers Don’t Have to Disclose Identity

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A federal judge overseeing a class action lawsuit accusing President Trump of endorsing a network marketing company without revealing the payment he received for doing it, now says that the accusers don’t have to reveal their identities.

U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield acknowledged that the president using social media platforms to draw attention to specific legal cases was “without precedent” but that this should not be an issue that stops the proposed case from going forward.

The judge in the Trump fraud class action lawsuit says that the accusers have a right to privacy at this point in time because of the high risk of threats if their individual names were revealed to the public.

The Trump fraud class action lawsuit was originally filed when a few different plaintiffs came forward to argue that they had similar experiences getting involved in the multilevel marketing company discussed by Trump on numerous occasions.

Those consumers believed that Trump’s mentioning of the product constituted an endorsement and that those who opted in relied on that information to sink money into the company.

Those four plaintiffs all say they lost money by investing in ACN, the company Trump is accused of endorsing. The plaintiffs in the Trump fraud class action lawsuit contend that Trump has supported the company multiple times, including on his former TV show and on stages.

The plaintiffs allege that he used his position as a businessman to support the potential to make affiliate income through ACN.

Those plaintiffs claim they lost it all when they made the initial investment into ACN based on endorsements. The lawsuit goes on to allege that Trump and his children used this relationship as a criminal enterprise to defraud consumers and make money.

The Trump fraud class action lawsuit argues that the ACN affiliate relationship violated numerous state laws and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Representatives for the plaintiffs stated that the individuals deserve to have their privacy protected due to well-founded fears about retaliation and threats they might receive if they had to go on the record with their identities.

Representatives for the company state that Trump served as a paid keynote speaker for them during the time he endorsed the venture but that the claims he made were not necessarily his own.

The consumers who filed the Trump fraud class action lawsuit, however, believe that they were duped into making an investment and risking all their money based on claims that Trump stood behind the business opportunity.

The plaintiffs in the Trump fraud class action lawsuit are represented by Roberta A. Kaplan and John C. Quinn of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP and Andrew G. Celli Jr. and Matthew D. Brinckerhoff of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP.

The Trump Fraud Class Action Lawsuit is Doe, et al. v. The Trump Corp., et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-09936, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On Jan. 14, 2019, victims of an alleged fraudulent business deal orchestrated by President Trump and his children are facing a motion to dismiss their class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 2: On July 24, 2019, a federal judge has decided that President Donald Trump and three of his children should face some charges by a putative Class who say that they were bilked out of money when they invested in what turned out to be a fraudulent marketing scheme.