US Judge denies request to delay Trump University trial

A US federal judge has denied a request for a five-week delay by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's lawyers in a trial that will determine whether his now-defunct Trump University had defrauded customers.

Lead Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli on Thursday asked Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel to move the trial of two class-action lawsuits from November 28 to January 2 because Petrocelli had another trial scheduled to start November 15, Cbs 8 news reported.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Jason Forge, argued that the judge had chosen the November 28 trial date months ago because it won't interfere with the presidential campaign or the holidays.

The class-action lawsuits accuse Trump and Trump University of ripping off students who dreamed of making it big in real estate and paid as much as $35,000 to enroll.

The lawsuits also allege that Trump University falsely gave the impression that it was an accredited university, that students would be taught by experts hand-picked by Trump and that they would get a year of mentoring.

Plaintiffs contend they got little value from the seminars, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.

Trump's lawyers have argued that many students gave the real estate programme positive ratings and those who failed to succeed were themselves to blame.

Trump was involved in drawing up the concept for the university and the materials, but the businessman left it to subordinate executives to implement the plans, his lawyers said.

Earlier in his campaign, Trump has repeatedly criticised Curiel's handling of the lawsuit, calling the Federal Judge a Mexican and insisting that his ancestry made him unfit to try the case.

--IANS

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