Trump U just one of his branded enterprises ‘deceptively peddling’ to ‘easy targets’

Posted by | June 26, 2016 13:16 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics

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Donald Trump lent his name to a bunch of questionable enterprises where the goal was to separate people who could least afford it from their money, as the New York Times reports in a page one Sunday feature.

“Easy target” might describe the audience for several enterprises stamped with the Trump brand that have been accused of preying upon desperation, inexperience or vanity. Some are well known. Trump University has most recently gained notice because of Mr. Trump’s attacks on the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing a fraud lawsuit brought by former students. There was also a multilevel vitamin-selling enterprise, the Trump Network, that Mr. Trump had said would give hope to people looking to “opt out of the recession.”

But intersecting with these was another, largely unexamined, business venture, Cambridge Who’s Who, which generated hundreds of complaints that it deceptively peddled the promise of recognition in a registry, as well as branding and networking services of questionable value. Dozens of people who paid Trump-endorsed businesses were also sold products by Cambridge, which benefited from its partnership with Donald Trump Jr. through “leveraging relationships built by the Trump empire,” according to Cambridge…

A 69-year-old woman from Kansas reported that she had paid $788 for services she claimed were “not worth $50 collectively” while she was going through a divorce and “looking for a way to make a living, build a new life and expand my career through this organization.” After she complained to the New York State attorney general’s office, she eventually received a refund…

In Oregon, Phyllis Fread was in her 80s, dealing with Parkinson’s disease and had been retired from teaching for almost two decades when Cambridge started calling her at home, where she lived alone. Cambridge salespeople telephoned Ms. Fread — who did not use the internet — 42 times trying to sell her networking services, a website and other products she did not need, according to an investigation by the Oregon attorney general’s office.

Over a two-year period, Cambridge charged her $14,593 for a video biography, calendars, a plaque and other items, including a news release in June 2010 titled “Phyllis J. Fread Reveals Her Secret to a Long Career in Education.” The release included a mention of Donald Trump Jr., saying he “was eager to share his extensive experience” with Cambridge clients.

Eventually, Ms. Fread reached her credit card limit and her son disconnected her telephone to stop Cambridge from calling. In a recorded interview with an investigator from the attorney general’s office, Ms. Fread became emotional as she recalled how “there were all kinds of things they’d push and I’d say, ‘I don’t want it at all.’”

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

16 responses to Trump U just one of his branded enterprises ‘deceptively peddling’ to ‘easy targets’

  1. Larry Schmitt June 26th, 2016 at 13:22

    There’s absolutely no difference between what he did and the TV and radio “preachers” who sold their audiences “prayer cloths” and other crap, and sometimes sold them nothing, except the promise that they would help spread the “word of god.”

    • anothertoothpick June 26th, 2016 at 13:33

      Don’t forget the “indulgences” the Pope’s used to sell.

      That’s even more funny. ?

      • Mike June 26th, 2016 at 13:38

        Just where do you think all these preachers learned to grift…??? From the pro’s

        • anothertoothpick June 26th, 2016 at 14:03

          Years ago my church would hand out these little, tightly rolled up parchments with a very nice red and gold ribbon bow.

          They handed them out to someone making a five dollar donation.

          But when you unrolled them, your “indulgence” was written in Latin.

          So you never knew what you could “indulge” in..

          • Larry Schmitt June 26th, 2016 at 14:07

            That was how the early church kept the flock in the dark: They prohibited the scriptures from being translated into the common languages. Only the clerics could speak or read Latin and Greek, and the sheeple had no way to protest their readings. It’s the same now, with laws being so convoluted, they’re in a completely different language than we speak (legalese) and we have to hire a modern cleric (attorneys) to read the new scriptures for us.

            • anothertoothpick June 26th, 2016 at 14:46

              Hahanahahahana. You are funny today.

            • whatthe46 June 26th, 2016 at 22:02

              “…hire a modern cleric (attorneys) to read the new scriptures for us.” and they charge an arm and a leg to do so.

          • Comicus June 26th, 2016 at 21:44

            You should have indulged in a Latin class.

      • bpollen June 26th, 2016 at 16:05

        Yup, “get out of hell, but not free” cards…

    • granpa.usthai June 26th, 2016 at 15:17

      more like the televangelist that was overselling timeshares in a ‘christian’ retreat in upstate SC back in the 1980’s.

      received 45 year sentence in 1988 but was released on parole in 1994 and has been promoting more Bakker scams in the midwest since then.

    • bpollen June 26th, 2016 at 16:06

      Remember when Gawd needed a water-slide?

  2. anothertoothpick June 26th, 2016 at 13:31

    Trump keeps telling us how “great,” he is.

  3. Gina Bousquet June 26th, 2016 at 17:15

    To have such swindler, fraudster, con man as candidate to POTUS…

  4. amersham1046 June 26th, 2016 at 20:38

    The religious right and tele-evangelists have been doing this for years

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