--- title: Trump University Called a Fraud By Eric Schneiderman description: The New York Attorney General described Trump University as a fraud and said his state would win its lawsuit against Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T13:26:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:08.278Z article:section: Politics og:title: Attorney General: Trump Earned $5 Million From University og:description: "It really was a fraud from beginning to end.” og:url: https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac2b3daa7e18be36/698895f0428a9e78c0cd2e23/donald-trump-trump-university-new-york.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: donald trump trump university og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Attorney General: Trump Earned $5 Million From University twitter:description: "It really was a fraud from beginning to end.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac2b3daa7e18be36/698895f0428a9e78c0cd2e23/donald-trump-trump-university-new-york.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New York Attorney General: Trump University Was a 'Fraud' That Earned Donald Trump $5 Million > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 2, 2016 1:26 PM UTC  Donald Trump holds a media conference announcing the establishment of Trump University in New York City, May 23, 2005. Donald Trump holds a media conference announcing the establishment of Trump University in New York City, May 23, 2005. Thos Robinson—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 2, 2016 1:26 PM UTC New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman described [Trump University](http://time.com/4353116/trump-university-documents-released/) as a fraudulent business and said he expected his state would win its lawsuit against reality star turned presidential candidate Donald Trump. “This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization,” Schneiderman said on [Good Morning America](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ny-attorney-general-slams-trump-university-fraud-beginning/story?id=39552689). “It really was a fraud from beginning to end.” Trump University was a business that offered customers advice that supposedly would help them succeed in business. Critics have said that the company targeted vulnerable populations and saddled them with debt for a worthless service. Schneiderman said “the initial estimates are that \[Trump\] personally pocketed 5 million” from the university. Trump faces legal action in both New York and California on the matter. [The presumptive GOP nominee has said](http://time.com/4304255/donald-trump-university-lawsuit-trial-hearing-case/?iid=sr-link2) he did nothing wrong and has attributed the investigations to politics. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/"},"headline":"New York Attorney General: Trump University Was a 'Fraud' That Earned Donald Trump $5 Million","datePublished":"2016-06-02T13:26:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:08.278Z","description":"'It really was a fraud from beginning to end'","url":"https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","New York"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac2b3daa7e18be36/698895f0428a9e78c0cd2e23/donald-trump-trump-university-new-york.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac2b3daa7e18be36/698895f0428a9e78c0cd2e23/donald-trump-trump-university-new-york.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald trump trump university","caption":"Donald Trump holds a media conference announcing the establishment of Trump University in New York City, May 23, 2005.","creditText":"Thos Robinson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4354855/donald-trump-trump-university-eric-schneiderman/","name":"New York Attorney General: Trump University Was a 'Fraud' That Earned Donald Trump $5 Million"}}]}] ```