Trump Ordered To Pay $5.77 Million To Golf Club Members He Stiffed

A Florida golf course owned by President Trump has been ordered to immediately pay $5.77 million to former members who were denied refunds when the real estate mogul bought the club five years ago.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that Trump National Golf Club in Jupiterviolated contracts that members had signed with the previous owner and were assumed by Trump as part of his purchase deal. The average payment will be about $87,000 for the 65 members. The members were awarded $4.8 million, plus $925,000 in interest.
Members complained in a trial in August that Trump had soaked them for millions, the Palm Beach Post reported.
Trump purchased the club in 2012 from Ritz-Carlton for $5 million, which was below market value, with the understanding that he would honor up to $41 million in refundable membership deposits, according to testimony and documents presented in court, reported the Post.
Under Ritz-Carleton rules, members who wanted to cash in their memberships and leave had to join waiting lists. Until they left, they would have to pay dues, but would also continue to enjoy the benefits of membership. Under Trump rules, members waiting to leave still had to pay dues but could no longer have access to the club.
Shortly after he purchased the club, he told members who wanted to leave to get out, apparently without any compensation. “We are committed to seeing Trump National Golf Club Jupiter on the list of the best clubs in the world, and if you choose to remain on the resignation list, you’re out,” Trump wrote to members in December 2013, reported CNNMoney.
During testimony, Trump’s son Eric, who ran the club, conceded that being forced to pay dues without having access to the club “would violate a fundamental principle,” the Associated Press reported. Trump, who was campaigning for president during the trial, testified via video.
The Trump Organization plans to appeal. A Trump spokesman said in a statement that at the time of Trump’s purchase “the club was suffering financially making it unlikely that these members would ever get back their deposits.”
The Jupiter club is one of a number of Trump’s golf courses entangled in problems. Last summer the PGA Tour moved an event from Trump’s Miami course to Mexico after the event was unable to raise sponsorship funds. Trump is  suing the town of Ossining, N.Y., in an effort to lower the taxes on his golf course there. The town has valued the course at $15.1 million, but Trump insists it’s worth only $1.5 million.
And locals are generally furious about Trump’s course in Aberdeen, Scotland, that opened in 2012. Though he promised locals they would get rich on property sales and the community would reap taxes, that hasn’t been the case. He hasn’t paid any taxes due to losses on the courses. He also harangued officials and launched a court battle over Scottish plans to build environment-protecting offshore wind farms, but lost.
Golf courses are hardly Trump’s only business problems. Last November after the election, he agreed to pay $25 million in fines and restitution to settle three fraud lawsuits filed by former customers of Trump “university.”