President Donald Trump. Photo: Bloomberg

A new lawsuit in Manhattan federal court claims President Donald Trump and his children spent years knowingly promoting products and services to unsophisticated investors that they knew were unlikely to succeed, despite assurances to the contrary, all while secretly being financially compensated, according to a new class action suit filed in Manhattan federal court Monday.

The unnamed plaintiffs in the suit claim that for years the Trump family operated a racketeering operation through both aligned outside businesses and Trump-branded ventures, according to the suit brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The 163-page complaint outlines a number of businesses that Trump lent his name to in endorsements and beyond, which the plaintiffs claim was done with the fraudulent knowledge that there was little to no chance the money they and others paid to partake in the opportunities would ever be recouped.

“Many of the Trump Enterprise's victims were then and are now among the most economically marginalized and vulnerable Americans,” the complaint states. “Indeed, the victims were specifically targeted because they were not experienced in financial and commercial matters.”

At the center of the allegations was Trump's relationship with the multi-level marketing company ACN Inc. Prior media reports on Trump's involvement of the company highlighted his endorsement of ACN, which included appearances on his former reality television program. The complaint claims working-class investors relied on statements he made in promotional material created by ACN in deciding to sign up with the company.

According to the complaint, Trump claimed to have prior experience with the products ACN was pushing on investors, having done substantial research and that he wasn't being paid for his endorsement.

“Not a word of this was true,” the complaint states.

In reality, Trump and his company were paid millions to promote ACN. In media accounts, the then-candidate for president claimed to have no actual knowledge about ACN other than the people who run it. The complaint alleges that none of this was disclosed to investors ahead of time.

For example, the Jane Doe plaintiff, a California resident and hospice caregiver, claims that she attended an ACN recruitment meeting in 2014. She states she was skeptical and unpersuaded by the company's presentations but that changed when she saw a promotional video prominently featuring Trump. She claims that changed with Trump's endorsement of the company and its products as a great business opportunity. At no point did the video mention he was being paid for the endorsement, the complaint states.

The Doe plaintiff wrote a registration fee check for nearly $500, based largely on Trump's endorsement. Over the next two years of involvement with ACN, Doe claims she paid thousands of dollars in fees and expenses to attend ACN events and host ACN meetings in an effort to succeed at the business. In the end, she claims she earned a single check for $38 from her efforts. Realizing the business was not what Trump claimed it was, she says she did not renew her annual position.

Beyond the partnership between ACN and Trump, the complaint points to other Trump-related business ventures that it claims were part of network of fraudulent activities meant to induce investment based on Trump's personal endorsement. Among these is the now-defunct Trump Institute, which faced numerous legal actions against its claims of providing participants with entrepreneurial insights based on Trump's business success. The New York State Attorney General's Office sued the company in 2013, claiming illegal business practices and false claims.

Trump ultimately settled the allegations for $25 million shortly after being elected in November 2016.

The class complaint contends that the ACN promotions and Trump education institute were part of a constellation of products touted by the future president, earning his family and company millions from participants who were falsely led to believe in his assurances.

“Defendants were aware that the vast majority of consumers would lose whatever money they invested in the business opportunities and training programs the Endorsed Entities offered,” the complaint states. “It was, after all, the potential to profit from consumers' unrecouped investments that drew the Trump Enterprise to the endorsed entities in the first place.”

An attorney for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Kaplan Hecker & Fink name attorney Roberta Kaplan and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady name attorney Andrew Celli lead the plaintiffs' legal team in the matters. In a statement provided through a spokeswoman, the pair stated that the Trump family and their business have not previously been sued in connection with their promotion or endorsement of the business opportunities and training programs that are the subject of this complaint. Nor were they aware of any prior case against the Trumps alleging consumer fraud on this scale, Kaplan and Celli said.

“This case connects the dots at the Trump Organization and involves systematic fraud that spanned more than a decade, involved multiple Trump businesses, and caused tremendous harm to thousands of hard-working Americans,” they said. “We are doing this because those victims deserve their day in court.”

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