Appeals court rules against Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s many misdeeds are continuing to catch up to him. Justice can’t come quickly enough to right the wrongs, compensate the victims, and expose the full truth behind the evils of the man who occupied the Oval Office for four years longer than he deserved. Yet, justice is coming for the proud miscreant in many ways.
One way came this week in the form of an appellate court ruling that was overshadowed by coverage of more pressing Trump-influenced events, including the January 6 attack and the rising pandemic death toll. In addition to shining greater light on Trump’s fraudulent schemes and making victims whole, this new ruling could produce bombshell videos that are said to be far more damaging than the infamous Access Hollywood tape.
In a 3-0 unanimous decision, the Second Circuit rejected Trump’s appeal trying to limit the victims of the desktop video phone service scheme he promoted on “Celebrity Apprentice” to arbitration. In 2018, investors filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump family and the Trump Organization for losses suffered after Trump, Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka promoted the fraud for a decade.
In April 2020, a district court judge ruled the investors were only bound to arbitrate with ACN (the marketing company behind the fraudulent phone service). There was no legal basis for giving the Trumps the benefit of an arbitration agreement that they never signed, and so the judge ruled they must defend themselves in court against fraud, false advertising, and unfair competition claims.
To enable the investors to proceed against the Trumps, the judge also ordered Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to show them hundreds of hours of recordings from two episodes of “The Celebrity Apprentice” that were never broadcast. According to former contestants, this footage contains an offensive treasure trove of Trump’s racist and sexist speech, which prompted former producer Bill Pruitt to tweet in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape release in 2016 that these recordings are “far worse.”
Robbie Kaplan, a partner at the law firm representing the defrauded investors, hailed the victory on Twitter. She then announced her firm’s intention to move forward with obtaining the tapes from MGM and taking depositions of the Trump family “ASAP.” Although it may resemble the proverbial tortoise more than the hare, justice is coming for Donald Trump.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month