SAN DIEGO (CN) — Numerous documents involving Trump University and its "playbooks," unsealed by court order Tuesday, reveal why the presidential candidates' attorneys fought to keep the documents from being released.
A sales manager who worked at Trump University's Wall Street office in New York said in a deposition that he resigned in May 2007 because he "believed that Trump University was engaging in misleading, fraudulent and dishonest conduct."
Ronald Schnackenberg's deposition continues: "I found it particularly offensive that while Trump University claimed it wanted to help consumers make money in real estate, in fact Trump University was only interested in selling every person the most expensive seminars they possibly could."
The cost of the seminars ranged from $1,500 to $35,000.
Schnackenberg said he quit in disgust after he was reprimanded for not putting a harder sell on a couple who could not afford the $35,000 "Elite" program because "they had no money to pay for the program, but would have had to pay for the program using his disability income and taking out a loan based on equity in his apartment."
Another salesman talked them into it after he refused to do it, Schnackenberg said: "I was disgusted by this conduct and decided to resign."
Corinne Sommer, an events manager, said in her deposition that the whole point of Trump University was to upsell people into the next, more expensive program. "I recall instances in which consumers had paid for a class to learn how to make money investing in real estate ask for more information and the teacher would say, 'If you want to get that, you have to buy the next package.'"
She said that many of the instructors were not "hand-picked" by Donald Trump, as advertised, and that "many of them did not even own houses and had no experience buying or selling real estate."
People who could not afford the classes were told "to max out their credit cards" and apply for new credit cards, Sommer said in her Sept. 22, 2014 deposition.
"I recall that some consumers had showed up who were homeless and could not afford the seminars, yet I heard Trump University representative telling them, 'It's OK; just max out your credit card.'"
Jason Nicholas, a Trump U "sales executive," said in his deposition that "Trump University instructors and mentors were a joke. Most of them were not experts in real estate and did not [have] experience in the real estate techniques they were teaching."
Nicholas continues: "They were unqualified people posing as Donald Trump's 'right-hand men.' They were teaching methods that were unethical, and they had had little to no experience flipping properties or doing real estate deals. It was a façade, a total lie."
Nicholas said that many of the Trump U managers were not only unqualified, they "were not who they said they were, either." He cited one "manager" who falsely claimed to have an MBA.
Nicholas, whose deposition features many repetitions of the phrase "This was not true," said that despite Trump's claim that he was "actively involved in Trump University ... This was not true." The only time he ever saw Trump, Nicholas said, he came in for five to 10 minutes, "and his bodyguard wouldn't even permit Trump University employees to try to shake his hand."
All three of these employees testified in support of lead plaintiff Tarla Makaeff's request for class certification.