by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 20 – In 2018 the lawyer who in 2023 represented E. Jean Carroll at trial against Donald J. Trump filed a civil damages suit, with four unnamed plaintiffs, against Trump and his children for their promotion of "a company called ACN, a multi-level marketing company
On May 19, 2023, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Lorna G. Schofield signed an order releasing from the case Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald J. Trump, Jr..
Roberta Kaplan, who Inner City Press covered earlier in the week representing NYU against a John Doe named in a #MeToo Google Spreadsheet online, said
"Discovery in this case, including the depositions given by Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, made clear that Donald J. Trump himself was the architect, principal actor and largest beneficiary of the fraudulent scheme to endorse and promote ACN in exchange for secret payments. That is why we proposed this stipulation in the first place: Donald J. Trump and the company he used to carry out the scheme, The Trump Corporation, are the right defendants as we move toward a jury trial."
On June 16, plaintiffs' counsel filed seeking to depose Trump's "late-disclosed" witnesses: Al Plumb, John Barringer, Devonne Richardson and Angelique Davis.
On June 22, Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave held a proceeding on the plaintiffs' request for depositions. Inner City Press covered it, thread here
On September 18 Magistrate Judge Cave set a conference: " a conference is scheduled for Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 1:00 pm."
Inner City Press covered the conference. Thread:
Plaintiffs' lawyer: The defendant is Trumpeting that some people made money with ACN... But these witnesses say they have no records. And those they are offering, they'd be heavily redacted. We want an order for access to the VIP Portal documents.
Judge Cave: What is the volume of these records? Plaintiffs' lawyer: About 8 pages for each. These four witnesses, it might be longer. Trump Corp lawyer: We provided a summary drawn from their VIP Portal record. They are computerized. It's payments made by ACN to them
Defense lawyer: They asked our witness if she has been baptized and found Jesus. They are entitled to profitability information, not more.
Judge: When this gets to trial, there will be the best evidence rule. The actual records are better than a summary chart
Defense lawyer: Discovery is long closed by now. But they're still bringing this up. They want to identify more witnesses from the VIP Portal information. I request we be only required to provide the expense information
Defense lawyer: We have another issue, they are challenging all confidentiality beyond PII (personally identifying information).
Judge: There is a mechanism.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Quinn: Mr. Plum (plumb?) said his definition of success was recruiting more people
Judge: My ruling is, I will require ACN to provide VIP Portal information for the 4 witnesses.
Defense lawyer: There are limitations.
Judge Cave: You can only produce what you have. You have until Oct 6. Adjourned.
More including document on Patreon here.
Could it be... Trump Trial 2? Trump Trial 1 here.
The case is McKoy, et al. v. The Trump Corporation and Donald J. Trump, 18-cv-9936 (Schofield / Cave)
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