Trump Uni taught how to cash in on global financial crisis

It's been revealed that Trump University had a course teaching students how to 'cash in' on the global financial crisis.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump. Source: Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's business seminar program created a class to teach students how to cash in on US mortgage foreclosures during the housing crisis.

Trump University promised in 2009 that its Fast Track to Foreclosure Investing would teach students how to take advantage of the crisis, according to university documents unsealed last week in a lawsuit against the now-defunct program.

The release will likely stoke criticism from the campaign of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, who last week accused her likely rival in this year's presidential election of having cheered on the 2008 housing crash as an investment opportunity.

A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although Trump reacted to Clinton's criticism last week, saying: "What am I going to do? I'm in business."

A Trump University advertisement released in the case said one of its free investor workshops would explain how to "Cash in on one of the greatest property liquidations in history!"

Trump University instructors were to teach students how to "capitalise without harm" and find ways for "sellers to move on without shame," according to a December 2008 summary of the seminar.

An earlier 2007 memo to enrollment counsellors stated that about 1.5 million US homeowners would face foreclosure that year and laid out how they should advise students to seize the "tremendous opportunity" to purchase properties at "major discounts" in "hot markets" such as Arizona, Florida and Texas.

The roughly 400 pages of documents included "playbooks" on how to recruit students, directions for how instructors should deal with the media and other details about Trump's seminar program.

They were unsealed on Friday by US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump called "hostile" and "a hater," adding he believed the judge was Mexican.

New York's attorney general slammed Trump for his comment on the judge's ethnicity.

Curiel is an American who was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and graduated from the Indiana University School of Law.

Clinton's attack on Trump last week was prompted by recently released audio that Trump recorded in 2006 for Trump University.

In remarks on a possible "bubble burst," Trump said in the recording: "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy" to "make a lot of money."


Share
3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Trump Uni taught how to cash in on global financial crisis | SBS News