'Pyramid scheme' promoted by Trump and Celebrity Apprentice links him to federal lawsuit: plaintiffs

Former President Donald Trump is still linked to a class action lawsuit against ACN Opportunity, LLC, which operates under the name American Communications Network. According to the accusations, the ACN company was a pyramid scheme that broke state and federal laws around "racketeering and conspiracy to racketeer."

Law & Crime reported that the lawsuit began six years ago, citing ads showing the Trump family promoting the scheme on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice. Judge Lorna Schofield set the date for the trial for Jan. 29, 2024, just as the presidential campaigns are getting started. The plaintiff's attorney had asked for a trial that would happen prior to the election season. But it was ignored.

Trump personally endorsed the company under the guise of a "renowned entrepreneur and multi-billionaire."

“Plaintiffs have no desire to interfere with the upcoming campaign, and are mindful that, should the schedule in this case extend into 2024, Defendants likely will, as they have in the past, use the campaign as a basis to seek further delay. Setting a trial date now will provide certainty and avoid any such delay later,” lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in a four-page filing to the court before Trump announced his 2024 candidacy. “In addition, aligning summary judgment briefing with class certification briefing makes sense, given that discovery will be complete and there is no reason to wait.”

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She explained that she hopes to cross-examine Trump himself, so the 2024 campaign will likely get in the way of that.

"She noted that the same thing happened in 2016 during a class action lawsuit against the now-shuttered Trump University, when the then-candidate’s lawyers requested a post-election date," the report revealed.

“The same writing is on the wall for this case,” Kaplan said.

Trump's people are worried that Kaplan's case will interfere with the New York state case from Attorney General Letitia James, which will begin in Oct. 2023.

“Plaintiffs’ initial request for an October 2023 trial date is nothing more than an unfortunate attempt to interfere with another case in which my partner and I are counsel for Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, both of whom are also Defendants in this case,” Trump attorney Clifford Robertcomplained in the reply.

The judge ignored the requests and said there wouldn't be delay and the trial would be in Jan. 2024.

Read the full report.