Donald Trump was personally tangled up in devising the online marketing strategy for Trump University, even vetting potential ads, based on newly disclosed sworn testimony through the company’s top executive taken included in a continuing lawsuit.

Into the testimony, section of a trove of records made public as a result of a federal judge’s Friday order, the executive said that the real estate mogul was associated with discussions and signed off “any time we had a fresh ad.”

“Mr. Trump understandably is protective of his brand name and very protective of his image and how he’s portrayed,” Michael Sexton, Trump University’s president, said within the 2012 deposition. “And he desired to see how his brand name and image were portrayed in Trump University marketing materials. And he had very good and substantive input as well.”

The order Friday from U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel came as a result to a request because of the Washington Post, which argued that the general public had a pastime in mastering about a business run by a potential president. Lawyers for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, opposed the release, arguing that the records contained trade secrets.

The records released Tuesday include documents from employees who described Trump University as a scam, as well as internal company manuals, called “playbooks,” which show that instructors were advised to aggressively steer prospective customers toward the most expensive courses. The playbooks advised staff members to gather “personalized information” about participants to help close sales. An example: “Are they a single parent of three children that may need money for food?”

Trump University’s marketing tactics have now been in the center of a case by which former students allege they certainly were defrauded because of the company. Among all of their allegations: which they were misled by ads featuring Trump claiming that he had been overseeing the curriculum and therefore the faculty would be “hand-picked by me.”
Trump has rejected the fraud allegations and has said the organization provided a valuable service. A Trump lawyer, Jill A. Martin, predicted Tuesday that the company will prevail once the case goes to trial, that is anticipated to happen in late November. Most of the newly unsealed evidence, she said, “demonstrates the advanced level of satisfaction from students, and that Trump University taught valuable real estate information.”

Tuesday’s release included an amount of glowing reviews from customers. “Trump University is some of the best money I ever invested!” one customer wrote.

Trump’s exact role in the for-profit educational venture happens to be an important facet of contention. Previously reported testimony from the lawsuit suggested that Trump was not deeply involved in the substance of the courses.

Sexton testified in an independent deposition that Trump would not personally select instructors for the marquee sessions. And Trump, in a sworn deposition, was unable to recall the names of key faculty members.

Even so, according to the newly disclosed testimony from Sexton, the organization was desperate to leverage Trump’s growing celebrity status stemming from his hit reality-television show, “The Apprentice.” Sexton claimed that, throughout the area of the year when the NBC show was airing, ads typically carried slogans associated with this system, such as: “I want you to become my Apprentice.”

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Sexton testified that Trump’s role as “chairman” of Trump University was purposely highlighted in advertising, as was a picture associated with the mogul’s signature.

But he said one potential ad theme built around the idea of teaching students to “invest like a billionaire” was rejected.

“It wasn’t available to people,” Sexton said. “People didn’t necessarily walk around attempting to be a billionaire. They’d be very very happy to be a millionaire. . . . I believe our feeling was that it was almost overwhelming, daunting, you understand; that is not likely to happen.”

The records were unsealed as Trump continued to attack Curiel, the judge overseeing the scenario. He has got previously said Curiel, that is Hispanic, might be biased due to Trump’s proposal for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Friday, Trump described the Indiana-born jurist as “Mexican.”

In an appearance Tuesday, Trump said Curiel was “very bad.” Asked why he would risk antagonizing the person presiding over the litigation, he responded: “Because I don’t care. We have a judge who’s very, very unfair. He knows he’s unfair. And I’ll win the Trump University case.”
Trump University was started in 2004 as a small business offering courses in entre­pre­neur­ship under the Trump brand. Trump gave his consent and became a 93 percent owner of this enterprise, based on Sexton’s newly unsealed deposition.

Trump was the centerpiece for the company’s advertising pitches. “Trump University will provide the experience, knowledge and wisdom of Donald Trump himself,” according to marketing materials distributed to potential prospects. In a promotional video, Trump declared that “at Trump University, we teach success. That’s what it’s all about — success.” He described the faculty as “the best of the best,” with instructors “handpicked by me.”

Aside from the class-action lawsuits being considered by Curiel, Trump University faces an independent $40 million fraud case in New York City, filed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. A brand new York judge recently ruled that the outcome is going to trial; Trump has appealed the ruling, an ongoing process that is expected to last several months.

The documents unsealed by the federal judge when you look at the class-action case include a contract with a Trump University speaker showing that a percentage regarding the speaker’s compensation was predicated on signing up seminar participants to purchase more Trump University products. Whilst in training, speakers were anticipated to hit a certain sales rate to be retained because of the program, in accordance with the contract.

One former Trump University staffer, Ronald Schnackenberg, wrote in a formal statement unsealed Tuesday that he quit this system in 2007 after working there for less than a year, deciding that it was participating in “misleading, fraudulent and dishonest” practices. His statement said he had been reprimanded by Trump University for not working harder to offer a $35,000 program to a couple who could not afford it and might have needed to use disability pay and that loan applied for against equity within their apartment to fund it.

He said another salesperson talked the couple into spending money on the seminar after he refused. “I happened to be disgusted by this conduct and made a decision to resign,” he wrote.
Schnackenberg wrote that he never saw Trump in seven months, in which he concluded that the program had not been designed to teach about real estate but instead so it “preyed upon older people and uneducated to split up them from their money.”

The newly disclosed documents also include a number of annual behind-the-scenes strategy manuals intended to guide Trump University employees.

Known as “playbooks,” the documents instruct staff when you look at the minutiae of setting ready to go free introductory courses, but emphasize that participants ought to be pressed to join up for additional, pricey classes.