There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 11:00
Part Two: The Complete, Insane Story of Trump University
Hey, Robert here. It's been like two months since I had LASIK and I'm still seeing 2020. All I had to do was go in for a consultation, then go in for a maybe 10 minute procedure and then my eyes have been great ever since. You know, I healed up wonderfully. It was very simple, couldn't have been a better experience. So if you want to explore LASIK plus I can't recommend it enough. They have over 20 years experience in the industry and they performed more than two million treatments right now if you want to try getting LASIK plus you can get $1000 off of your surgery when you're treated in September, that's $500. Of per eye, just visitmylasikoffer.com to schedule your free consultation. Hello, I'm Erica Kelly from the podcast Southern Fried true crime. And if you want to go from podcast fan to podcast host, do what I did and check out spreaker from iheart. I was working in accounting and hating it. Then after just 18 months of podcasting with Spreaker, I was able to quit my day job. Follow your podcasting dreams. Let's breaker handle the hosting, creation, distribution, and monetization of your podcast. Go to spreaker.com. That's spreaker.com. Hey there, it's Ebony Monet, your co-host for the San Diego Zoo's Amazing Wildlife podcast. In this special episode, we're speaking with Doctor Jane Goodall about the fascinating journey that led to her social discoveries on chimpanzees SO4-O months, the chimps ran away from me. I mean, they take one look at this peculiar white ape and disappear into the vegetation. Bing wildlife on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's behind the ********. And I'm Robert Evans. Miles Gray is my guest today. How you doing? Hi, I'm from Liverpool. Now let's talk about Trump University. Ohh yes that where were we? Alright Part 2. From mid 2007 to 2010, Trump University was essentially a series of free classes that actually only taught you how to raise your credit limit in order to pay 10s of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump. The instructors or teachers for these classes were really sales people who got 25% of the revenue from everybody who signed up for these paid programs. The very best of these instructors was a fellow named James Harris. According to Stephen Gilpin quote, he didn't have a background in education. Or even a college degree. When he was hired in 2008, he had a felony conviction for ramming into someone's truck with his own truck eight years earlier, and according to 2011 divorce filings in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Harris had threatened to kill his ex-wife and tried to have her Range Rover repossessed the day after she filed a restraining order against him. Harris was so volatile, according to court records, that his children's school went on lockdown one day when he picked up the kids. Ohh, this is Trump University's best professor. Also, why are we still calling Professor? Because he's so funny that you would call that man a professor that other professors he's professor of ramming the cars. Trump University did run a background check on Harris, but the investigators did not flag his criminal record. They were also apparently not able to verify whether he graduated from high school, though Harris later told CNN that he did graduate. The report didn't uncover any real estate experience either. According to court records, there is no evidence that James Harris ever held a real estate license. So James was by far the best of the Trump U instructors. They actually filmed some of his lectures to play for other instructors because he was so good at like, oh Wow, goal was to sell 25% of the room. On the package, a new package with every one of these things. And he always met or exceeded his goal. Wait, so how many salespeople would be working a given seminar? You know, sometimes three or four it sounds like, but they knew that they they needed to sell 1/4 of the people who came as a as a sales team. Not like as each individual sales was different depending on. I think some seminars had multiple and some it was just James coming in there. So I think it was different each time. Like they had a variety of different things. Yeah. Now Jim had a number of tactics, but the most of them boiled down to. Was repeatedly promising his audience unfathomable riches. His favorite line was apparently, write this down your license plate when I'm done with you is going to say paid for. Got that? Wow, you go. That's. You know, that's not what I would do, is not what I would do. I can see why it would work. I would go around and I would say, everybody get out a piece of paper, OK? And on it. Now, don't tell anybody. Think in your mind, right in your mind's eye when you are actually making all the millions of dollars with this Trump program. What's the first car you're going to buy? Now, don't. It doesn't have to be a new car. Can be a car you've always wanted because not money can get you anything, even an old Corvette your grandpa used to drive. OK, now I want you to write down the make and model of that car. OK? Now put it in your pocket. Because what I want you to know isn't about, let's say, what's today? February, let's just call it February 7th, OK? In one month from today, March 7th, you are going to be pulling out that piece of paper and looking in the rearview mirror of that car. One month and I congratulate all of you. Boom. Sold. Sold half the room. Jesus Christ, Miles, I just love oh, I love these. Just again, the balls like anyone else would feel so terrible to be like, I'm charging these people, so I'm selling you nothing. And then on top of it, you know, they're desperate and you're saying you're going to have everything. Don't worry, don't worry. I mean, anyone who isn't a total, like, you would have to know that some of these people are in like, pretty bad situations. You don't spoil it, but Trump seminar, if you're everything's perfect. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Or I mean. Some people might. Things might be perfect, but they just don't know that there are $70,000 away from blowing it on the wind. All right? Yeah, well, OK. Steve Miller, James Harris. I'm sorry. Once Trump University collapsed, spoilers. The Washington Post the Washington Post sat down with Harris. His name came up more than just about any other name and complaints about Trump University because he built the most people out of the most money. Quote from Harris. I was told to do one thing and that one thing was to show up, to teach, train and motivate people to purchase Trump University products and services to make sure everybody bought that. Is it sullying the term products and services? Really? And that hurts me to hear as a products and services guy. I know, I know. But you have to look past that. It's the bigger picture, right? Because you're looking at products and services is sort of your, I guess, life raft or life vest in a sea of debt and uncertainty. Yeah. Well, let me tell you something. I'm coming by in the ******* Titanic on that sea, and I'm swooping my hand down to pull you aboard the USS opulence, the s s. Let's just call it abundance, OK? And I'm not afraid to share, because when wealth is infinite, doesn't matter how many ways you cut that. It's still going to generate. Oh boy. Oh boy. OK. So the Chicago Tribune reported that during one session quote, Harris scolded an 18 year old who said he might not be able to make the $1400.95 class starting on a Friday because he was still in high school. Take the day off, he told the high schooler. This is more important. This is a billionaire and I work for him. And I'm going to show you how to buy and sell real estate. Wow, take the day off. Skip school kid. As the most successful sales teacher for Trump University, Harris Strategies relied heavily on bringing Donald Trump's name into it. Here's. Opens book quote Harris's upsell rate was so good that Trump University executives distributed a transcript of one of his sessions so that others could learn his secrets, especially from the crucial elements of his unscripted Q&A at the end where the master pitchman closed his sales. Among the highlights of Harris's winning presentation was his promise that Trump quote only wants to leave a legacy. He does not need your $1500. He did not have to start this university. He does not need the money. He does not get a dime of it. Does everyone understand this? Please say yes. He does not need the money. Trump. Offered at an estimated 5 to $10 million from Trump University. Outside of that, Harris's pitch seems to have been a pretty standard one. In the world of multi level marketing and pyramid schemes, there are three groups of people. People who make things happen, people who wait for things to happen, and people who wonder what happened. Which are you? Which are you? Yeah, yeah, the which are you. Questions are always big in these. And again, listen to the dream. Great podcast on Pyramid schemes. Multi level marketing. Awesome podcast. Donald Trump shows up a few times. Really good podcast now. One of the people. Taken in by James Harris was Kevin Scott, a 46 year old employee of a pharmaceutical company. He was drawn in by quote, the picture Harris painted of making money quickly by flipping distressed and foreclosed property using other people's money. That was a major promise. Harris and other sales teachers and Trump you promotional material all made. Donald Trump himself was a huge fan of talking about using other people's money to finance real estate investment schemes, although he put his own money into Trump University. Enough, I'm sure he did things like, oh guys, get ready. Because you're gonna be hooked on OPM. OPM other people's money. That's good. That's really good. Thank you, Kevin Scott started with a 90 minute free class and then paid $14195 for a course by Harris, which turned into a $25,000 elite package. Now that level of commitment entitled him to a number of benefits, including three days of 1 on one instruction with his mentor, James Harris. Here's the Chicago Tribune quote. Scott said his mentor accompanied him on a weekend tour of properties in Westchester. At first he was impressed, but when he tried to make a deal. To buy and flip the houses he was told each time by the banks that owned the properties that he had to have financing in place before they would consider his offers. And the non bank hard money winners who Harris had promised would be made available to him by Trump University were nowhere to be found. He said it all amounts, Scott said to a whole lot of nothing. He adds that because he tapped out his credit cards to pay the tuition, I ended up being one of those distressed properties. I now have to rent out my house and live in a small apartment. Scott is 1 of what are likely to be nearly 7000 plaintiffs in the class actions. Oh yeah. It's a bummer. Wow. Another person who swore an affidavit against Trump University was Kathleen Meese. She paid for a three day workshop in Malta, NY this conference included several sales teachers, one of whom was a guy named Stephen Goff. Meese later recalled. Quote While the other Trump instructor spoke to the class, Mr Goff pulled people aside one by one and told us that we would make money faster if we enrolled in Trump elite programs and worked with a personal mentor. Mr Goff asked if I could come up with $25,000 to sign up for the Gold Elite program. I told him I had a credit card with a $30,000 limit, but I did not want to pay that. Search for the Trump Gold elite program. I told Mr Goff that I could not fly to the Trump elite seminars because I have a son with Down syndrome who needs to be close to a hospital in case he needs to receive his medical treatments. Goff, wanting the $5000 he'd be guaranteed for such a sale because he gets 1/4 of it, promised Kathleen that she would make her $25,000 back in 60 days. He also promised to be her personal mentor, and eventually she agreed and charged the program to her card. Three days after this, Stephen Gough called her up and told her that, alas, he'd be unable to mentor her and she instead wind up working with some guy she'd never heard of. Kathleen Meese demanded a refund, which he did not get. Now I found that anecdote and gilpin's book. Since James Harris wound up being such a messed up guy, I wanted to learn a little bit more about Steve Goff to see if this was maybe a trend among Trump University professors. But that they were lying, sniveling little rat men criminals is more what I was interested in. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, man. Hold on. I I take offense. We all get the odd school shut down because we're so violent and angry when we walk. Cars are deadly weapon now. Yeah, like, yeah, people were shooting each other with cars in the civil war. Uh, I found an LA Times article that talked a little bit about Steve Goff's back story. Journalist David Lazarus went to one of those free seminars and actually talked to Goff quote, who told me before things got started that he had bought and sold about 300 houses since getting into real estate 11 years ago. He said he had never bought or sold a house in California, which is where the seminar was. I asked off if he's a millionaire. He said no. He said he had been through bankruptcy, 2 divorces, and had his own home foreclosed upon. I love helping people, Goff said of why he now works for Trump University. I'm very passionate about. Helping people achieve success. What? I mean, I've been bankrupt and lost my house. Now let me teach you how to flip houses, but you don't even have money. I know I will if you sign up for this course. Let's see. I'll teach you for lunch. Yeah. Can you buy me lunch? Lunch? I do imagine we love sounding like Gill from The Simpsons. Yeah. Come on, go off. Other members of those class actions included Bob and Alex Guilo father and son, Bob Guilo, signed up for the $35,000 Trump Gold Elite program based largely on the promise that this would put him in a very small in the know group of insiders who would receive special secret real estate knowledge, Mr Guilo explained in his affidavit. For example, where Mr Trump would be involved in building condominiums, we would get first choice at purchasing an apartment and then would be able to immediately sell it at a profit once he actually tried to make use of the benefits promised to him and his Trump gold elite membership. Wheeler realized that the special secret listing he was supposed to get access to was Zillow. No, they pulled the data from Zillow. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. And then, like, probably put it in some other present. I think they put it in another thing. This is a hot. We call this a hot. Nobody. Nobody can access this. No, nobody. Donald Trump picks these. Nobody in North Korea can access this. OK? He attended every one of the seminars he was entitled to and realized that even after paying 35 grand, he was still being viewed as a cash bigot rather than a student. At every single seminar quote, they tried to solicit more money from us. I got a picture of myself. The Trump cut out and basically very, very little else. Jesus and were people just trying to give him like? Did they have, like, side hustles, too? Or they're like, all even, OK, you're doing the Trump elite program, but look for another thousand. I'm going to show you some secrets that isn't even in here. That happened a bunch of times. The university actually cracked down on it just because they like, hey, yeah, taking too many bites of the apple number of these guys would, like, try to sell their own scams. Yeah, they're already buying that. Like, let me just get a little 500 on the side. Yeah, grifter school. Bob demanded a refund, which he did not receive. Vanity Fair spoke with the Trump University employee, a guy named Soriel, who dealt with Bob's case. This is what he said in 2014, right as the class action suits were kicking off. I had many conversations with Bob Guilo. He could not articulate one thing that was wrong with the course. And I just got the impression that this was a guy who read about this frivolous lawsuit and was saying, hey, look, I'm going to try and get some money back, especially because he signed up for multiple courses in multiple years and had multiple. Very positive evaluations and this brings us to the evaluations. Like any good con, Trump University came with a plan to protect Donald Trump from lawsuits that would inevitably proceed because he was fleecing people out of their life savings. So we're going to get into how he did that. But you know it's not a con miles, the fine services and or products. I feel bad about saying products and services after that last guy. Well, let's call them goods and services. The goods and services barter your way on down to engage in these. Capitalism enterprises, eds. Mint Mobile offers premium wireless starting at just 15 bucks a month. And now for the plot twist. Nope, there isn't one. Mint Mobile just has premium wireless from 15 bucks a month. There's no trapping you into a two year contract. You're opening the bill to find all these nuts fees. There's no luring you in with free subscriptions or streaming services that you'll forget to cancel and then be charged full price for none of that. For anyone who hates their phone Bill, Mint Mobile offers premium wireless for just $15.00 a month. Mint Mobile will give you the best rate whether you're buying one or for a family and at Mint. Family start at 2 lines. All plans come with unlimited talk and text, plus high speed data delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any mint mobile plan and keep your same phone number along with all your existing contacts. Just switch to Mint mobile and get premium wireless service starting at 15 bucks a month. Get premium wireless service from just $15.00 a month and no one expected plot twists at mintmobile.com/behind. That's mintmobile.com/behind. Seriously, you'll make your wallet very happy at Mint Mobile. Com slash behind now a word from our sponsor better help. If you're having trouble stuck in your own head, focusing on problems dealing with depression, or just you know can't seem to get yourself out of a rut, you may want to try therapy, and better help makes it very easy to get therapy that works with your lifestyle and your schedule. A therapist can help you become a better problem solver, which can make it easier to accomplish your goals, no matter how big or small they happen to be. So if you're thinking of giving therapy a try, better help is a great. Option it's convenient, accessible, affordable, and it is entirely online. You can get matched with a therapist after filling out a brief survey, and if the therapist that you get matched with doesn't wind up working out, you can switch therapists at any time. When you want to be a better problem solver, therapy can get you there. Visit betterhelp.com behind today to get 10% off your first month. That's better helpp.com/behind betterhelp.com/behind. Hey, Robert Evans here. It's been like two months since I got LASIK laser eye surgery and my vision is still 2020. So many things about my daily life has changed. I don't have to worry about putting on a mask and my glasses fogging up. I don't have to take out contacts at night or put them in the day. I don't have to, like, worry all the time when I'm traveling. Like, how many contacts do I have by go swimming at the lake during the summer? Something I like to do, go to the beach or whatever. I don't have to worry about losing a contact or, you know, bringing swimming glasses or something. With me, everything is just easier. And getting it done was easy too. You know, I went in, I had my consultation, they told me I was a good candidate and then I went back in couple of days later about it being about a boom. You know, my eyes were perfect. So LASIK Plus is a leader in laser vision correction in the United States. They have over 20 years in the industry and more than two million treatments performed. If you want to start your LASIK plus journey, you can get $1000 off when treated in September. That's 500 per eye. So visitmylasikoffer.com to schedule your free. Consultation now. We're back. Talking about product services, we just did, now we're talking about Trump University, which was actually not a product or a service. It was just a way for people to throw money in a hole, so. There was an evaluation system set up in order to protect the companies from lawsuits because, like, if these people sue us for stealing their money, we can point out, will you give us five stars? We gave us five stars like you gave us a good. That was just a yeah. They were inoculating themselves. They were inoculating themselves by being like, OK, do this. It's. Oh well, that's weird. You said you loved it. It's the scam equivalent of like, when you have those court cases where, like, a celebrity is accused of sexual assault and someone like, well, here's a picture of her looking, smiling next to him. Right. Like that happened with the Weinstein case. Where there is that they pointed out like, well, no, she sat next to him at the Oscars. Sitting on his lap. Yeah. Like, she doesn't look traumatized. Like, it's. Yeah. That's strange. Yeah. Turns out it's a good strategy for a couple of things, right? Yeah, if you have no soul, Stephen Gilpin explained. Quote, as noted on page 40, the Playbook event staff were required to distribute surveys to all attendees and collect once completed in exchange for certificates. That's right. Each student was handed a survey to fill out, and he or she did not receive their course completion certificate until the survey had been completed and turned in. The exchange was clear. You fill out the form and then we'll give you this, your certificate. Students have stated that the Trump team members would hover over them while they filled out the forms, making it more awkward for them to write anything critical. Trump University mentor Tad Lignell told the New York Times that he asked students to fill out the evaluations in front of him at restaurants and coffee shops. At that moment, vulnerable students still needed and expected his guidance as they filled out the forms. Their mindset was I want my mentor to be my friend and I need his help. In 2010, Trump University had its first legal trouble. Greg Abbott, the Attorney General of Texas, opened an investigation into 30 complaints made by Texans who'd gotten fleeced by the scam, according to Gilpin's book we pulled out of the state before the probe was completed. A few years later, Trump made two contributions to Abbott's gubernatorial campaign, one for $25,000 in July and one another for $10,000 in May of 2014. It was Trump's only substantial venture into Texas politics. The governor's critics and the state Democratic Party said that Abbott was, quote, on the corrupt Trump payroll, a former deputy chief of Abbott's. Consumer Protection Division John Owens claimed that his bosses torpedoed their request to sue Trump University for illegal business practices. A memo dated May 11th, 2010, and provided to the State, Texas Tribune and other media organizations revealed that Owens and his colleagues wanted to ask the Trump University for a $5.4 million settlement. Owens, now retired, says his team had built a solid case against Donald Trump at Trump University, but was told to drop it after the school agreed to cease operations in Texas. So bribe the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. Which? If you're a Texan, you know that all of our governors are grifters. I mean, look, you got to kick it up. You got to kick it up, man. Look, you want to ******* run **** around here? Give me my taste. Give me my give me my cut of that pie. 35 grand to forgive 5.4 million in scamming Texans out of money. Yeah, I mean, but it's not a lot of work for the government. Stop it now. I got a little little fishing boat. Greg Abbott. Can you get a fishing boat for 35 grand? Little Boston whaler? Yeah. Not a great one. Yeah, yeah. Something you can take out, some you can take out. Not a John McAfee class yacht, but not a murder S murder. Someone's going to die on that boat journey for sure. Every picture of him, he's got like multiple guns in bed, in his drinking. It's just a hammock in the background making the background John McAfee. Now, throughout all this, Trump University continued to use the 40 Wall Street address as its corporate address, despite being told by the Department of Education. Stop doing that ****. After five years of this, on June 2nd, 2010, Trump University finally changed its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. Now, according to Gilpin, this was all just cover for the fact that Trump and Sexton were shutting down the university. Michael Sexton quit his job and left the office without telling anyone. It apparently took several weeks for the employees at Trump University to realize the company no longer existed. Gilpen claims he never got his last paycheck and no one told them to stop working. Wow. Just get the **** out. Just get the **** out eventually when you realize we're not paying you anymore, right? Right? Yeah. In August of 2013, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump under the grounds that Trump University had engaged in, quote, persistent fraudulent, illegal, and deceptive conduct. Quote from Schneiderman. Some instructors claim that a Trump degree is a bit of a college degree, and that Trump offered graduate programs, postgraduate programs, and doctorate programs. Instructors routinely referred to themselves as faculty and to the Trump University. Program participants as students and then graduates after completing a course and going through graduation. Instructors represented the three day seminar would provide special instructions to students on how to obtain private or hard money sources of financing rather than traditional loans from banks. In fact, there is no evidence that the three day seminars contain substantive instruction on how to raise private money. And the supposedly special database of lenders turned out to be a list photocopied from an issue of Scotsman Guide, a commercially available magazine photo photocopy off. You didn't have the ******* time they even retype it. It's an old camera phone pic now. This is where those satisfaction surveys come into play, because when the Attorney General of New York announced a lawsuit against Trump University, Trump launched a website 98% approval.com now defunct. The website made the case that Trump University had a 98% approval rating from its students. So why was this crooked Attorney general coming after them? Oh, I thought they said they were in love. They said they were in love. Interesting. Sounds like someone's trying to get money. Yeah, sounds like sour grapes. MMM. They're actually wound up being three big *** lawsuits over Trump University, one in New York, one in California, and one in federal court. If you remember the time Trump was racist to that Judge, Gonzalo Curiel. This is when that happened. The cases were all settled in early 2017 as Trump took office and the aggrieved parties won a total of $25 million, which should mean that just about everybody who got ****** over by Trump University will get their money back down the line. Yeah, I mean, 25 million, that's about that's good. So those people, actually. More than likely will be made whole, it seems. It seems so. At least the ones who signed on to the lawsuit. Yeah, and it was like 7000 people. It's all coming out of old billionaire Donald Trump's ******* quote UN quote billionaire. So there's a happyish ending to this because they, they kind of Trump settled kind of right around the time he was being inaugurated because they were like, I just don't want this to drag on, right, right, right. Go be the president there like something going on where like one person wasn't going to accept and it was going to like, derail it was going to derail it. But then the judge was like, no, I don't know the details, but it didn't whatever, that they didn't allow that that one person's decision to end up ******* up. For everybody else, so unlike most stories, particularly most stories involving Donald Trump, this tale does have a happy ending. Or. Sort of, because Trump University was not the only scam Donald Trump played in the mid aughts. In fact, it seems to have been the nibble that led him into a binge of scams. In 2009, as Trump you was winding down, he signed a deal with Ideal Health, an MLM that sold urine testing kits that were supposed to help them formulate super multivitamins designed specifically for you. The reality of the situation is that Trump claimed to be like in on this investment, that it was like a great opportunity and I believe this is going to be like they specifically talked about like the, the, the. Financial crash and was like, you know, in an age when all of these promises have been proven untrue and all these these these sketchy finance people have screwed you guys over, I found a way for the American dream to aid whole, and it's selling these pH testing kits to give people multivitamins. And so you would pee on the thing, and then they would, like, give you a customized vitamin. Vitamin, yeah. Trump claimed to be intimately involved with the company involved in formulating the programs. And, like, he claimed that he loves pee. Yeah, they, I mean, they called it the Trump network, but he loves pee. He does love pay. He loves. He found another P thing to do. Now, this, this company had existed before him. But afterwards, people thought that basically it seemed kind of like people on the ground, like he might have bought the company and was now running it. And they're like, oh, great, just send him in a big 711 big gulp cup. To my bedroom and I will sip them. Oh boy. OK. The reality of the situation is that ideal health was just paying Donald Trump to give speeches at conferences and let them use his name for branding purposes. He had no actual hand in the operations of the company, nor was any of his money on the line in it. This is distinctly not what the employees of ideal health were led to believe. Well, I guess now the Trump network we're led to believe. Here's the Washington Post. Trump says he was not involved in the company's operations, but statements by him and other company representatives, as well as a plethora of marketing materials. Speculating online often gave the impression of a partnership that was certain to lift thousands of people into prosperity. In fact, within a few years, the company fell on hard times, leaving some of salespeople in tough financial straits. It ultimately was acquired by another firm, but when Trump joined forces with ideal health, he was enthusiastic about his future. When I did The Apprentice, it was a long shot. This is not a long shot, Trump told a Trump network convention of at least 5000 people in Miami in 2009, his face projected onto a giant screen. This is going to be something that's really amazing. It's going to be our company as a group. So wow. Wow. Oh, and then he's like, This Is Us. Ever see us? This is look around. This is the board. This is the board. We all work together. You're working with Donald Trump's billionaire. Anyway, I'm going to leave. I'm going to leave. I don't know where I am, actually, but you're going to be rich. Congratulations. There's more. In 2014, Donald Trump signed a deal with a CN, a telecommunications marketing firm that scammed people out of their money by trying to convince them to sell video phones in the 20 teens. The president was sued for his role in this last October. Complainants allege that they were once again led to believe Trump was actually involved in the business and believed in it. He did not disclose that he had been paid millions of dollars in order to sell them on the company. A CNN was not the only company listed on this lawsuit. The lawsuit complaints that the Trump Foundation, which is ostensibly a charity, was turned by the president and his family into essentially a clearing house for scams. Here's the New York Times. Those business entities were a CN, a telecommunications marketing firm that paid Mr Trump millions of dollars to endorse its products, the Trump network of vitamin marketing enterprise and the Trump Institute, which the suit said offered. Extravagantly priced multi day training seminars on Mr Trump's real estate secrets. That is a different thing from Trump University that says Trump Enterprise Trump Institute. Trump started in the same time, 2005. He had two fake colleges running at the same time and but we've only known about university. Who talks about the Trump Institute? Two fake schools. What the ****? Two fake schools, miles. Was it the same thing too? The exact same? Not quite. Not quite. It was actually less of a scam. How is it less of a scam? Cheaper. So while Trump you was at least initially seated by Trump's own money, the Trump Institute was a series of expensive lectures run by Irene and Mike Millen, a couple with a long history of shady get rich quick schemes. Michael Sexton, CEO of Trump University, also helped to run the Trump Institute. Trump's role in the institute was basically limited to licensing his name and claiming the business secrets taught were all things he totally learned during his long. There's a businessman. A New York Times investigation later found that huge chunks of the course books for the Institute were outright plagiarized from legitimate business books. This at least means there is a ghost of a chance that someone got useful information, right? That's true. Now the four plaintiffs. I do want to read another quote from that Washington Post article on the Giant lawsuit against the Trump Foundation, because I think it's interesting quote. The four plaintiffs who were identified only with students like Jane Doe, depict the Trump Organization as a racketeering enterprise that defrauded thousands of people for years as the president turned from construction. Licensing his name for profit, the suit also names Donald Trump junior, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump as defendants. O. All of This is why, in December of 2018, New York Judge Sallian SCARPULLA approved a deal to shut down the Trump Foundation for Good. Citing its shocking pattern of illegality, the judge ordered that the foundations remaining 1.7 million in assets be split up amongst legitimate charities, which is where we stand now. There's still an investigation ongoing, which means that the President and all of his kids might get charged under the Rico statutes for racketeering like. Which I just get hit with the Rico, for all the talk about the Mueller investigation, which I'm a fan of just because it put Paul Manafort and Roger Stone and buying bars, I think that if that's all we get, but it looks like what that might uncover is like no direct collusion with Russia, but just like the president was racketeering running a criminal enterprise the most inept organized crime thing? It's yeah. I mean, I think because also the charges that he's facing from the Southern District of New York, I think are far more potentially scary than so many charges. Against him. It's because they're not limited by like, they're not handcuffed by DOJ policy of not indicting or whatever. Like we're here to ******* figure out we're here to burn this mother down. I didn't. I knew the Trump Foundation was a scam because I didn't know it was how he ran multiple pyramid schemes, including two fake colleges. The institute, though, there's something just those two words together, 2 fake colleges. I don't know why Trump University sounds more believable than the Trump Trump Institute. It does sound scammy. I don't know why. And I I found this out near the end of my research. I could have gone in more, but I think it's just important to know that, like he had two fake schools at the same time. Two fake schools. Yeah, look, it's funny, baby. President of the United States. Everybody, yeah. He's just more out there with it, that's all. You know? Everybody's got scams. Is this really, really lame and predatory? Hate to say say this about Eric Prince, but at least he ran a company that did a business. There was a product. Was a product. And yeah, he's like, look, I'm selling chaos. They they they made the wars work out less well for everyone involved, but they did keep their clients alive. Sure, that's technically all they were paid to do. They follow through on that. It's like, look, we might ******* go outside the lines in a few more than one way. We might make the whole war effort less successful while murdering civilians, but the people we're hired? Not get killed. We'll stay alive. It's weird because I'm always like, yeah, Eric Prince building his fake warplane warms my heart more than hearing about these confidence scam. This is just so lazy. Such a lazy scam. Tell desperate people they'll get rich if they give you money. Point blank. That's it. The end. Eric Prince Scam is spent years setting up a series of shell companies and buying businesses around the world to gradually assemble a couple of warplanes because you just want to bomb people that badly. Donald Trump. Yeah, let's start a fake school and let's hire criminals to teach it. Get old. Truck ram over here to be the top professor. ******* professor. Professor rammed a truck into so much it would be just so funny. This is see those videos like if you have those clips and just even the lower 3rd for that be like Professor Miller. Yeah like wow that is OK sure. God, I got to see his name was James Miller. James Harris, I think. Miles, you want to plug a pluggable in this the whole the plug zone the PZ Oh yeah Belkin plug in surge protector. Oh man really surge Protector family because they also have a 2 built-in USB slots so if you want to charge your phone and not worry about. Any surge is damaging your electrical products. Belkin plug in surge. You know I plugged into Belkin Surge protector when I was in Ireland once. It was one of those adapter things too. It was a huge spark shot. Ride the surge protector instantly and you look like what his name in home alone. See? Oh yeah. Just check out the Daily Zeitgeist Daily News, Politics Culture podcast that I co-host with Jack O'Brien everyday on this network. Belkin is not a supporter. Belkin is not a supporter. You know, that was thirsty me. If Belkin does want to put some money into this, I will claim that it was a different search protector. Fantastic. Fantastic. That'd be a good thing to talk about too, because it's really the power dynamic, power, dynamic power, you know. Anyway, Speaking of power dynamics. And also, you know, follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles. Gray, you can follow me on Twitter at at at ******** pod. You can't follow me on Instagram because it frightens and confuses me. Your post would be amazing, though. I don't even know what you do on it. You would. You just show people what you see through your eyes as you see it? Robert, that's a bad idea. Expanding this show, that is a bad idea. You can find this show on Twitter and Instagram, though, at ******** pot. You can find it on the Internet at behindthebastards.com. Download that Trump University playbook. For yourself, give a give some of those sections a read through. Don't start at the beginning. It's kind of boring. But go go to that sales section. Really. Pretty drink it in. Pretty abusive, yeah. The tactics I'm curious to like, actually. It's it's really disturbing when you see it written out. Just sort of just so plainly. Yeah. It's it's like a textbook written by people who all hit their spouses. It's it's it's like those same tactics, though. Oh yeah, just abuse. It's just about just making you feel out of touch with your power or your own sense of agency. Yeah, it's remarkable. Anyway, go do something that makes you happy. Listen. Listen to a happy song. Pet a puppy. Flip a cup car. Buy a T-shirt on teepublic, stickers, cups, crowbars. Let me break police vehicle windows pretty well. Probably. Open the back. Yeah, branded behind the back. Just crowbar. I don't know. Light courthouse on fire. Whatever you want to do. Can we can we ask people to do that? No, we can't. Don't light a courthouse on fire. Hug a courthouse. Hug a courthouse. Hug a courthouse. Hug your local courthouse today. Uh, and go to Robert University, where I will teach you my secrets for losing thousands of dollars in real estate. Haley's being honest. At least I'm being honest. If you wanna lose money the Robert Evans way. You know what? The episodes over, I I I'm a legend. I'm. I'm. I'm urging crimes. I'm selling nonsense. You gotta cut, Sophie. You gotta just stop this. Hello, I'm Erica Kelly from the podcast Southern Fried True crime, and if you want to go from podcast fan to podcast host, do what I did and check out spreaker from iheart. I was working in accounting and hating it. Then after just 18 months of podcasting with Spreaker, I was able to quit my day job. Follow your podcasting dreams, let's break or handle the hosting. Creation, distribution, and monetization of your podcast. Go to spreaker.com. That's spreaker.com. Hey there, it's Ebony Monet, your co-host for the San Diego Zoo's Amazing Wildlife podcast. In this special episode, we're speaking with Doctor Jane Goodall about the fascinating journey that led to her social discoveries on chimpanzees. So four whole months, the chimps ran away from me. I mean, they take one look at this peculiar white ape and disappear into the vegetation. Living wildlife on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Introducing the biz tape you're all things music business and media podcast. Join me, Joe Waslewski, and my co-host Colin McKay every Wednesday where we discussed the breaking news, changing the music industry, and what your favorite artists and creatives are up to. Listen to new episodes of the biz tape every Wednesday on the Nashville podcast network, available on iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.