Ex-Texas official: Trump U probe dropped due to politics

[Daemonaquila]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by etherealtruth (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Associated Press

[Texas AG] Paxton's office issued a cease and desist letter to former Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens on Friday after Owens made public copies of a 14-page internal summary of the state's case against Donald Trump for scamming millions from students of his now-defunct real estate seminar.

Owens, now retired, said his team had built a solid case against the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but was told to drop it after Trump's company agreed to cease operations in Texas.

...

According to the documents provided by Owens, his team sought to sue Trump, his company and several business associates to help recover more than $2.6 million students spent on seminars and materials, plus another $2.8 million in penalties and fees. Owens said he was so surprised at the order to stand down he made a copy of the case file and took it home.

...

Owens' boss at the time was Greg Abbott, then the attorney general and now the state's GOP governor. The AP first reported Thursday that Trump gave donations totaling $35,000 to Abbott's gubernatorial campaign three years after his office closed the Trump U case. Several Texas media outlets then reported Owens' accusation that the probe was dropped for political reasons.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fb39c3abe1434694b802f241362eadf2/ex-texas-official-trump-u-probe-dropped-due-politics

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Apparently Abbott required $10k more than Bondi to buy off. Unlike Bondi, he had a well-formed case against Trump U that was abandoned. How many other Rethug AGs have been bought off, I wonder?

A second article from the AP regarding this bubbling little baby scandal:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/67444ec825f3460ba4aadefc0d29d22f/trump-university-model-sell-hard-demand-see-warrant

[ProudProgressiveNow]

1. K&R nt

[bucolic_frolic]

2. That's what is happening

Buying the presidency, one piece at a time. Buy the media, buy the courts,
buy the legal profession. Some judges aren't for sale. All others accept cash?

[Stonepounder]

3. Paxton appears to be as crooked as his boss, Greg Abbot.

Further down in the same article, there is a note that Paxton (the current Texas AG) was indicted on three felony fraud charges himself last year. He remains in office while appealing the charges.

And everyone is piling on Hillary and the Clinton Foundation for 'pay-to-play'.

[Thinkingabout]

4. Greg Abbot was AG when this was dropped, yes, he is dirty.

[niyad]

5. well, we all knew this, but nice to have it admitted by someone who was there.

[Daemonaquila]

6. They're awfully eager to shut him up.

Of course, that has just the opposite effect. Continue, gents - the more noise you make, the more people will notice the payoff.

[SunSeeker]

7. Not politics. BRIBERY.

[Coyotl]

10. My first thought too, except i was thinking corruption. Not politics when it is criminal.

[winstars]

8. I love this story but the articles cited are from early June... Anything new about SCUM Abbott?

[Daemonaquila]

9. Are these fresh enough for you?

I didn't use them because without context of the prior articles, they don't mean a whole lot.

http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2016/09/14/trump-university-broke-texas-law-in-so-many-ways-according-to-official-who-investigated-it

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Former-Abbott-employee-reappears-in-video-for-9221065.php

[winstars]

12. Ahhh, most here read those articles in June. Thanks for the great new ones in LBN

[vlyons]

11. The Republican party is a vast criminal enterprise

especially in Texas

[etherealtruth]

13. I am sorry, LOCKING. Articles must be posted within 12 hours of being published in LBN

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Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.