Donald Trump Will Pay $25M Trump University Settlement 2 Days Before Inauguration

Donald Trump will pay $25 million to settle a class-action fraud lawsuit just two days before he is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, according to details of the Trump University settlement filed Monday night.

The money will be personally guaranteed by Trump and paid into an escrow account by Jan. 18, according to the settlement, which was submitted to a San Diego federal court. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

The settlement resolved three pending lawsuits, including one by the state of New York, against the president-elect's eponymous school, which plaintiffs said bilked them out of thousands of dollars. It also meant that Trump avoided the embarrassing scenario of a president-elect going to trial in a civil fraud case as he builds his administration.

The trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 28., and a settlement was reached on Nov. 18. As part of the settlement, Trump University does not admit any wrongdoing.

Attorneys for both Trump and the plaintiffs asked U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel to approve the settlement, which will pay $4 million to the state of New York.

Students had sought to recoup payments they made to Trump University for courses that cost as much as $35,000. As part of the settlement, students will receive anywhere from half to a full refund of what they paid the school.

The plaintiffs' attorneys also said in the settlement they will waive their attorneys' fees.

"By any metric, this is a fair, adequate, and reasonable settlement," the attorneys wrote in the settlement, which was posted online by Politico.

Trump University's students claimed that the school had promised "hand-picked" instructors who would teach them Trump's real estate secrets. In reality, they said, the courses were led by sales people who were more interested in up-selling the next level of coursework.

Throughout the presidential campaign Trump vowed he would win the case, even if it went to trial.

"I will win the Trump University case. I already am, as far as I'm concerned," he said in June. "I could settle that case. I could have settled that case. I just choose not to."

In February, he tweeted that he would continue to fight "out of principle!"

READ MORE: Donald Trump Settles Trump University Case For $25M

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons