Sorry I took so long...Mormon missionaries.
Anyhoo, where was I?

Oh, the Milens...

Donald Trump needed some help in 2006. He was setting up Trump Institute, a series of seminars teaching the “way to wealth,” and was looking for expertise on how the conference business worked.He turned to a pair with a troublesome legal history to give him a hand.

Mike and Irene Milin were known to law enforcement officials in a number of states for a host of get-rich-quick schemes and alleged real estate scams. They were prosecuted by the Texas attorney general for deceptive trade practices, and sued by the makers of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, to name just two of the Milins’ many legal entanglements. But Michael Sexton—then president of Trump University, which he said at the time included the Trump Institute seminars, as well as online courses—partnered with the Milins nonetheless, according to a report from The Sacramento Bee.

The Milins’ oft-investigated National Grants Conferences, in effect, became the blueprint for Trump Institute. The two seminar businesses used some of the same speakers and shared office space in Boca Raton, Florida. The ads for Trump University promised to make people “millionaires,” just as the National Grants Conference commercials told customers they’d make them rich from government money. And, most importantly, Trump Institute operated itself in much the same manner as National Grants Conferences: After a promise of easy riches and a free seminar, customers were cajoled into doling out more and more money to get the key to unlocking wealth.

The problem in both cases: The key never opened anything.

The Milins launched National Grants Conferences in 1998, promising customers lucrative grants from the government, which they could not fulfill. Before that, the couple basically got run out of each state in which they set up a different iteration of the same shady practice.

Similarly, Trump Institute promised to make people into savvy real estate investors, thanks to advice from The Donald himself. The customers never met the straw-haired impresario, however. They only got to see a cardboard cutout of his likeness.

NGC went bankrupt just two years after the partnership began, after being dogged by a major complaint from 34 attorneys general across the United States. Trump University would also earn a reputation as a fraud operation and both New York State and former students have brought charges against the Republican frontrunner as a result.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (7/01/2016 12:10 pm)