Trump’s Civil Cases Don’t End with E. Jean Carroll and Letitia James

Gage Skidmore

Attorney Roberta Kaplan left a courtroom in New York this week having won her client, E. Jean Carroll, $83.3 million in combined damages following a jury’s verdict in the defamation case against the former president.

But that isn’t the end of Kaplan’s legal fight against Trump, and she now trains her sights on another matter, which is picking up comparably little media coverage. 

In 2018, four anonymous plaintiffs sued the Trump Corporation, Donald Trump, and three of his children – Eric, Ivanka and Don Jr – for promoting a multilevel marketing scheme on The Apprentice, the former president’s TV show.  On the show, the Trump family endorsed ACN Inc in exchange, the plaintiffs say, for millions of dollars in secret payments between 2005 and 2015. ACN charged its clients $499 to sell videophones, among other things, promising to be a ‘get rich quick’ opportunity. Instead, some of the plaintiffs lost thousands of dollars.

The suit was originally filed as a federal class action, however earlier this year a judge dismissed the suit from federal court and recommended that the plaintiffs move forward with individual cases in their respective states instead. Trump’s three children were dropped from the suit in 2023, to “streamline” the case, leaving Donald Trump and his corporation as the defendants. Roberta Kaplan, who is representing the plaintiffs, responded to the decision to dismiss the suit from federal court by vowing to take the matter up in state courts, noting that the judge’s ruling “addresses only where — not if — plaintiffs’ claims should be brought to trial. We intend to continue the fight, and our brave clients look forward to their day in court.”

At the crux of the case is what the plaintiffs allege to be Trump’s duplicity in marketing the pyramid scheme and his undisclosed ties to the company behind it, even after he started his first presidential run. As with everything in Trump World, the case also shines a light on his long-established practice of trampling over others in his pursuit of money. In filing the case, attorneys for the plaintiffs describe the victims as having been “conned” into “giving up hundreds or thousands of dollars – losses that many experienced as devastating and life-altering.” 

They allege that Trump was for years operating “a large and complex enterprise with a singular goal” of personal financial enrichment by “systematically defrauding economically marginalized people looking to…pursue the American Dream.” The lawsuit claims that the former president lied when he "told investors that he had 'experienced the opportunity' and 'done a lot of research,' and that his endorsement was 'not for any money’….” 

In 2015, in typical Trump-style, the former president claimed to know nothing about ACN. In fact, the plaintiffs allege, the company sponsored a hole at Eric Trump’s annual golf tournament in 2017. There are multiple photos showing the Trump family with the ACN founders – who he claimed to be a ‘friend’ to in 2009 - and the company gave the ex-president over $8 million when he was in yet another financial hole. Quite the feat for a company he supposedly knows nothing about.

The Trump family also appeared in promotional materials for the company, with the former president declaring in a video shown to potential recruits that "ACN has a reputation for success. Success that is really synonymous with the Trump name, and you can be a part of it."

Instead, the plaintiffs – who describe themselves as former fans of Donald Trump – lost money. One of them spent almost $5,000, which she believed to be an investment, and only received $38 in return after persuading family members to purchase some of the ACN goods she was hawking after being taken in by Donald Trump’s endorsement.

The lawsuits will now go forward in the plaintiffs’ respective states. Trump will have to defend himself against claims that he deliberately and knowingly misled people about the company and the opportunity it presented for clients to make money. He’s also accused of failing to disclose his financial ties to the company and the fact that he was endorsing their products in exchange for millions of dollars. And he’ll once again face Roberta Kaplan, who is turning out to be quite the legal nemesis.