Trump and his children (at least the notable ones) have been at the center of a lawsuit accusing them of sucking entrepreneurs into investing in a scam. And now, according to a new report from The Daily Beast, a New York City federal judge has served the plaintiffs a pretty big win in their case against the Trumps, after ruling that behind-the-scenes tapes of Donald’s now-defunct Celebrity Apprentice are to be released to their attorneys for review, following years of delay.
But, to make this whole situation that much weirder for us, and worse for Donnie, it seems these particular tapes were being heavily guarded and have never been seen before.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ordered that the movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is to make the highly secretive footage available to attorneys for the plaintiffs in the scam lawsuit, at a secure, MGM “safe house.” In her order, Judge Schofield said attorneys for the angered entrepreneurs “shall review the requested footage onsite” and be allowed to copy relevant clips.
For some reason, these particular tapes are draped in secrecy that no one’s been able to make much sense of. The Beast notes that MGM has refused to say what’s in the tapes or why they’re behaving as though the contents of them could be so damaging for the public. Nor is it clear why the studio itself has fought so hard to keep them hidden away. The report notes, “in court filings made last week, the Beverly Hills studio would only describe what’s in the tapes in a document that remains sealed from public view.”
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However, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs certainly know what they’re looking for once they get to review the secret tapes.
The report reads:
Trump and his kids—Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—were the top recurring characters of The Apprentice, playing the role of business judges. During the show, the family featured ACN as a promising investment, even having celebrities compete to produce a commercial for the company’s supposedly high-tech new video chatting phone, the ‘Iris 5000.’ In reality, the tech was a dud and the company was facing financial turmoil—but viewers weren’t told that.”
Ultimately, the New York Times revealed that the multi-level marketing company had paid Trump a staggering $8.8 million over the course of 10 years.
“Trump repeatedly misrepresented ACN’s risk profile to consumers, falsely claiming that investing in ACN was a low-risk entrepreneurial venture,” the scam lawsuit reads. “Trump repeatedly told his audiences that he endorsed ACN because he believed it offered a reasonable probability of commercial success. He touted ACN’s commercial prospects and his regard for its founders. And he failed to disclose that he was, in fact, being paid millions of dollars for his ACN endorsement.”
Should the case reach a jury trial like it’s currently set to, the secretive footage could eventually be seen by the public, as well.
The Beast report does note to “Expect a slow burn. The judge has scheduled a trial sometime after March 2023.”
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
