Trump appears for deposition in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit over Trump University.
During the campaign and in the final stretch of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised that he would be more transparent about the details of his business dealings, and would release his tax returns if he were elected.
But on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers asked a judge to quash Trump University’s court-sanctioned case in federal court in New York, filed in response to charges that the college overcharged students — including one who lost $40,000 — and cheated its own professors.
Trump’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel they want the public to have access to the records of Trump University’s proceedings — an attempt to quash public knowledge of Trump’s financial dealings.
The Trump University fraud lawsuit, brought by actress E. Jean Carroll, is not the only instance of a U.S. judge questioning whether financial documents filed in court might be a violation of a client’s right to privacy.
In the case of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said in August that the governor’s filings could violate the U.S. Constitution because he had failed to properly turn over financial information when he agreed to let the attorney general’s office conduct his audit.
Ellis ordered Bolling to deliver his financial information to the attorney general within 30 days after the ruling, but as of last week that deadline had not been reached.
The records about Trump University also raise questions about whether a candidate for president discloses his tax returns and other business assets in his financial disclosure forms, as required by law.
A Trump University lawyer filed a motion questioning whether publicly available records might have information on the “fraudulent or deceptive acts” carried out at Trump University that could violate public disclosure laws, the Times has reported — but the case was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
The Associated Press obtained documents filed by Trump