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Calling the lawsuit "implausible," the Trump family said in a
filing in federal court in Manhattan that the four plaintiffs
failed to prove there was fraud or intent to cause harm, or that
any statements by Donald Trump caused losses.
A spokeswoman for the plaintiffs, who went by pseudonyms, had no
immediate comment.
They accused the Trump family of having received millions of
dollars of secret payments from 2005 to 2015 to endorse American
Communications Network, which charged $499 for a chance to sell
videophones and other goods, and two other businesses.
The lawsuit said the Trumps deliberately conned victims into
believing Donald Trump stood behind the investments and thought
they would pay off, when the real goal was to enrich themselves.
They said this violated a federal anti-racketeering law known as
RICO.
Other defendants included an affiliate of the Trump Organization
and Trump's adult children Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka.
In Thursday's filing, the defendants suggested that the case was
politically motivated, having been filed against the Republican
president one week before November's congressional elections and
funded by a nonprofit whose president backs progressive causes.
They also said Trump's promotional statements about ACN were
merely opinion, or were "puffery" that reasonable investors
could not rely on, and that none of the other defendants said
anything the investors might have heard.
The plaintiffs originally sued on Oct. 29, 2018, and amended
their complaint on Jan. 31.
But according to the defendants, the new complaint "cures none
of the original defects, and in fact only highlights the
implausibility, of a lawsuit that seeks to convert a celebrity
endorsement by Mr. Trump and the licensing business of the Trump
family, in toto, into a RICO violation by which Plaintiffs-who
paid no money to any Trump business, ever-lost $499 each."
The plaintiffs have until March 7 to respond.
The case is Doe et al v Trump Corp et al, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York, No. 18-09936.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Grant
McCool)
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