I cannot figure out if there are potential criminal penalties for Trump University or if it is a civil lawsuit.
I’ve heard RICO mentioned several times, but I thought it was a civil suit.
How much could Trump lose in the civil suit, and are there criminal charges too?
Currently it’s a civil suit.
RICO is always mentioned with various peccadillos with various people, but I assume (IANAL) that proving it was deliberately criminal and repetitive is the catch. Offering an expensive but crappy education is not criminal. (It just should be…)
RICO has both civil and criminal elements.
At least one of the civil suits against Trump U alleges civil violations of RICO and seeks damages for their alleged fraud scheme.
There are no criminal cases against Trump U right now AFAIK.
Criminal fraud is much, much harder to prove than civil fraud. There would have to be absolutely undeniable evidence available for them to try a criminal fraud case. Most white-collar folks know not to make things so obviously in bad faith, and have a flimsy cover story good enough for reasonable doubt to creep in, but not good enough to avoid losing civil litigation.