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Donald Trump is facing trial on January 29 for allegedly duping people into investing in a loss-making video phone.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, New York, in 2018, alleges Trump received millions of dollars in secret payments "to promote and endorse" ACN, a marketing company promoting a new type of video phone.
Video phones, popularized in the 2000s, were replaced by smartphones with the video chat feature. Skype introduced video calling in 2006 and Apple popularized video chat with a front-facing camera installed in its iPhone in 2010.
The lawsuit alleges that Trump promoted the product on the TV show Celebrity Apprentice without disclosing that ACN was paying him.
The current Republican frontrunner for 2024 allegedly said at the time that ACN's video phones were doing "half-a-billion dollars' worth of sales a year."
"Trump also told investors that he had 'experienced the opportunity' and 'done a lot of research,' and that his endorsement was 'not for any money.' Not a word of this was true," the lawsuit states. Newsweek sought email comment on Saturday from Donald Trump's attorney, John Lauro, and from Roberta Kaplan, the attorney representing the plaintiffs.
Trump has already been deposed in the case, which is among a large line of criminal and civil trials the former president is facing in 2024.
"Trump told prospective investors that "[y]ou have a great opportunity before you at ACN without any of the risks most entrepreneurs have to take," according to the 161-page complaint filed in 2018.
The lawsuit alleges Trump received secret payments for inviting two of the founders of ACN into Celebrity Apprentice, the reality show that Trump hosted.
In 2018, ACN began marketing a video phone that was "essentially a desktop, wired telephone with a video screen and webcam in addition to the usual handset and keypad," according to the lawsuit. It was only compatible with other ACN phones and subscriptions.
"Trump repeatedly praised ACN's 'great product'—its 'new ACN Video Phone.' But ACN's video phone was anything but great—the product was doomed almost from the outset," the plaintiff's complaint states.
Trump's three adult children: Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr, have all been dropped as defendants in the case.
On October 17, 2023, a judge denied the plaintiffs their request for class action status, so their cases will be viewed on individual merit.
Separately, Trump is being sued for defamation for a second time by journalist E. Jean Carroll. In May 2023, a New York jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages against Trump after finding that he had sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. The jury found that he had defamed her character when she took a case against him. Trump has maintained he does not know Carroll and termed the verdict a "witch hunt."
In a second case Carroll took against Trump, a judge ruled that the former president also defamed her in comments in 2019. A jury will decide this month how much money Trump will have to pay Carroll in compensation in this second defamation case.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan is representing Carroll as well as the plaintiffs in the ACN video call case.
Trump is also being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for falsifying asset evaluations to obtain bank loans. Judge Arthur Engoron has already found Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud and Engoron must now decide on a second part of the case.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more