Trump was deposed in a fraud suit that involved a failed 'videophone' from 2008, which lawyers alleged was 'doomed almost from the outset:' report
- Donald Trump, his company, and his three oldest children are being sued in a class action lawsuit.
- The suit claims that Trump defrauded investors into backing ACN, an MLM telecommunications company.
Donald Trump was recently deposed for a class action lawsuit that claims he misled investors into financially backing a multi-level marketing company that once sold a failed "videophone."
He was deposed earlier in October, according to Bloomberg, which cited an anonymous source familiar with the matter.
The lawsuit, filed in 2018, names Trump, his company Trump Corporation, and his three oldest children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump — as defendants.
It claims that from 2005 to at least 2015, the Trump family and the company received "millions of dollars in secret payments to promote and endorse" ACN, a multi-level marketing company that specializes in telecommunications.
In exchange for the payments, Trump gave glowing endorsements for the company, the lawsuit alleged.
"Trump told prospective investors that "[y]ou have a great opportunity before you at ACN without any of the risks most entrepreneurs have to take," according to the court documents.
One of the flagship products ACN began to sell in 2008 and which Trump endorsed to convince the financial viability of the company was a "videophone." The lawsuit claims that the product was "essentially a desktop, wired telephone with a video screen and webcam in addition to the usual handset and keypad." It also required an internet connection and was only compatible with other ACN phones and subscriptions.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Trump repeatedly praised ACN's 'great product' — its 'new ACN Video Phone.' But ACN's videophone was anything but great — the product was doomed almost from the outset," the lawsuit said.
The videophone was quickly made obsolete by smartphones with video chat capabilities. Skype introduced video calling in 2006, and Apple would popularize video chat by installing a front-facing camera in its iPhone by 2010.
"As we complete fact discovery in this important fraud case, we could not be more pleased with the substantial body of evidence we have developed that will prove our clients' claims," Roberta Kaplan, one of the lawyers representing the investors, told Insider. "We are eager to move this case forward to trial as soon as possible."
Kaplan is also representing E. Jean Carroll in another suit against Trump, which claims he sexually assaulted Carroll in a department store in the 90s.