The class-action lawsuit against Donald Trump, his family, and The Trump Corporation, filed by former ACN distributors Lynn Chadwick, Markus Frazier, Catherine McKoy, and Millard Williams, was dismissed in its entirety on January 11, 2024. The plaintiffs, who had previously maintained anonymity, sought damages alleging fraudulent inducement into ACN's multi-level marketing scheme.
An agreement between the parties on August 30 of the preceding year allowed the plaintiffs to reveal their identities. They had initially secured a protective order in late September, granting them the rare ability to remain anonymous in the early stages of the litigation. Such anonymity is uncommon in multi-level marketing lawsuits, particularly class actions, where transparency regarding plaintiffs is often deemed crucial for public interest and legal due process. The second amended complaint, filed on September 14, subsequently listed their full names, with no other changes to the core allegations.
Chadwick, Frazier, McKoy, and Williams each operated as ACN distributors between 2013 and 2017. Their lawsuit contended they were persuaded to join ACN through specific representations made by Donald Trump, other members of the Trump family, and The Trump Corporation. These representations, often delivered at promotional events and in endorsement videos, allegedly presented ACN as a lucrative business opportunity directly endorsed by the Trumps. Plaintiffs claimed they invested time and money into the ACN system, which primarily involved selling various utility services rather than physical products, based on these celebrity assurances. The suit characterized ACN as an illegal pyramid scheme, leveraging the Trumps' public image to attract new recruits.
The Trump defendants had previously sought to compel arbitration, a common tactic to move disputes out of public courts and into private resolution. This effort failed. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a prior ruling by the New York District Court, which denied the defendants' motion to force arbitration. The appellate decision effectively kept the lawsuit in the public judicial system, a significant procedural victory for the plaintiffs. This ruling subsequently led to the lifting of an administrative stay on July 28, allowing the District Court case to proceed.
The legal proceedings were initially projected to be lengthy. An administrative timetable guided the case into March 2023, suggesting a trial would not occur for several years. A December 13, 2022, order later set a tentative trial date for January 29, 2024. However, the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) class-action did not reach this stage. The case's full dismissal on January 11, 2024, concluded the litigation before any trial could commence, bringing an end to the multi-year legal battle over the Trump family's involvement with ACN.