What was left of the original RICO class-action over Donald Trump’s promotion of ACN has been dismissed.

Plaintiffs Lynn Chadwick, Markus Frazier, Catherine McKoy were denied class certification last October.

This reduced their case to

common law and statutory claims … arising respectively under the laws of California, Maryland and Pennsylvania … with total out-of-pocket losses said to be roughly $7,000.

The original Complaint, filed back in 2018, sought to hold The Trump Corporation, Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump accountable for endorsement of ACN.

Denial of class-certification followed dismissal of the Trump children as defendants in June 2023, and RICO causes of action back in 2019.

After class certification was denied, Trump requested the case either be transferred to each of the Plaintiff’s respective local jurisdictions, or dismissed entirely.

Plaintiffs opposed transfer of the case at a hearing in November 2023. They claimed that transfer of the case would complicate their appeals on the prior RICO and class certification decisions.

In reaching a decision on what to do, the Southern District of New York court took into consideration that

even though discovery has been completed and certain motions decided, retaining jurisdiction would not serve economy or convenience.

The parties and Court are not yet ready for trial; Defendants’ summary judgment motion on the three states’ statutory and common law claims still must be adjudicated, the parties’ pre-trial submissions must be filed and decided, a final pre-trial conference must be held and a trial date rescheduled.

Because this case now involves only three individual plaintiffs asserting claims under their respective states’ laws, it is not better suited for adjudication in this court than in state court.

The court thus dismissed the case at the federal level as per a January 11th order.

Plaintiffs, if they choose to do so, are permitted to refile at the state level in their respective states.

Seems unlikely given the individual damages but if I hear anything on state-level lawsuits being filed I’ll leave an update below.

 

Update 23rd January 2024 – An appeal has been filed by Plaintiffs Chadwick, Frazier and McKoy on January 17th. A parallel appeal was also filed by non-party Raj K Patel on January 19th.

Will continue to monitor the docket for appeal updates.

 

Update 23rd August 2024 – On August 7th Plaintiffs Chadwick, Frazier and McKoy filed a notice informing the court they have withdrawn their appeal.

Patel’s appeal also doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere. This brings BehindMLM’s coverage of the ACN Trump case to a close.